


Stronger Than Stone

by FivePips



Series: Rock 'n' Pole [25]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, College/University, Dating, Genderqueer Character, Other, genderqueer teddy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:27:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26066473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FivePips/pseuds/FivePips
Summary: Teddy's got their feet under them now, and is about to start Uni. Are things going to continue to go well or will there be other curve balls?
Relationships: Teddy Lupin/Original Character(s)
Series: Rock 'n' Pole [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1452979
Comments: 68
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Of course Jenn beta'd and helped with Sirius.
> 
> I will be posting chapter 8 later and 9 and 10 tomorrow. After that we will be returning to a one shot a week until we finish and post Remus and Sirius' story from Teddy's not so great period -- and that and peak angst.

“Dad, you can't interrogate her. I’m nearly twenty now. I am an adult,” Teddy rattled off as he stood in the doorway of Dad and Uncle Reggie’s office. Dad was looking at him with a grin while Teddy could see Uncle Reggie’s shoulders shaking as if he was holding back a laugh.

Skye was on her way over to Recovery to meet Teddy to walk to the park for their date. This was not Teddy’s idea but he had finished a lesson and Skye had texted it was easier just to meet there. She also wanted to see inside since she hadn’t been in before.

“I don’t interrogate people. I’m sure she’s lovely.”

She was lovely. They had been dating for just shy of a month, and things were growing a little more serious between them. Dates lasted late into the night -- no, not because they were having sex but because they spent hours just talking. Sex was currently not on the table because Skye was demi, so Teddy knew that he had to let her be the one to initiate things. But she did like kissing, which Teddy was all for. Plus all the talking and hanging out and just being together was great.

“No, but I know you and Pada.”

“Pada is worse than me! They scared the shit out of Uncle Benjy when they started dating!” Dad threw a hand in the general direction of his uncle’s desk. That made Uncle Reggie’s laughter finally spill over.

“Oh god, they were terrible! They nearly made poor Ben quit the studio. Not to mention their anger thinking that he was cheating on me with Hes.”

Teddy put his hands on his hips. “Why are you two so embarrassing sometimes?”

“Me? I haven’t done anything!” Dad laughed unbelievably. “Pada’s always the one who gets all protective!”

“You do too!” Teddy looked over his shoulder to check if Skye was there yet. Dad just rolled his eyes as Uncle Reggie continued to laugh, his head down on the desk now. “How about you just stay here when she comes?”

“Teddy?” Skye’s voice came from behind him.  _ Damnit _ .

Teddy turned around quickly to see her grinning. “Skye! Hey, sorry, just chatting with…”

“His Dad.” He stood up from his chair, moving towards the door behind Teddy.

“Hi Mr Lupin-Black.” She held her hand out for him to shake.

“Nice to meet you Skye, call me Remus.” He shook her hand. “Happy to meet the person that Teddy keeps vanishing with.”

Teddy blushed, like he was a bloody thirteen year old again. “Yeah, yeah, we have to get going.”

“I don’t think the park has closing time.” She chuckled. “I mean, I think dusk but it’s June and super sunny out.”

He huffed, rolling his eyes as Dad continued the conversation. “Interested in climbing, Skye?”

“Oh, maybe another day when I’m not wearing a dress.” She looked down at her black sundress with tiny sunflowers on it.

“Don’t let him talk you into buying pair of Recovering leggings and a tshirt.” Teddy looked between Skye and Dad. The last time he was this nervous introducing anyone to his parents was Jordan. It’d be fucking brilliant if he could stop thinking about him full stop.

Dad scoffed. “I won’t sell them to her, I’ll give them to her. How mean do you think I am?”

“Skye, like 75% of the laundry at the Lupin-Black house is either Recovery merch or stuff from my Pada’s dance studio. He’s going to off load merch on you sooner or later.”

“Sirius and Remus could make a welcome basket for you.” Uncle Regulus stood up and came over to introduce himself. Teddy bit his lip, wondering if he was thinking about  _ home _ when he looked at Skye and Teddy together. He wanted it to be home.

“Okay, we really have to go.” Teddy flapped his arms.

“But I’m interested in the welcome basket!” Skye’s chuckled, clasping her hands together.

Teddy grabbed her arm. “No, no don’t encourage them. You’re going to walk out of here with an actual basket. Either that or he’ll tell Grandma and she’ll hunt you down with a basket from everyone. This family is insane.”

“We are, he’s right.” Dad snorted a laugh. “Have a nice picnic in the park.”

“Thank you Remus.” Skye tugged at Teddy. “Nice to meet you both. I’m sure Teddy is about to explode if we don’t get out of here.”

“It’s been a month! Can’t avoid us forever!” Dad shouted after Teddy as they went towards the door.

Skye was laughing her head off as Teddy dragged her towards the back so he could grab the food he had stuck in the fridge. Pada had insisted on helping him pack the picnic dinner, gushing about their and Dad’s first date and having a picnic at their favorite climbing place. They would not stop gushing about how adorable it all was, and how happy they were for Teddy to have found someone.

“Your dad’s so sweet.” Skye held a hand out for the tote bag of food but Teddy put it in his shoulder. “Do you have a blanket in there?”

“No, but…” He looked around for the old stock containers. There was a supply of blankets they had done one year. “Also, don’t let him fool you. He’s a bastard.”

“A sweet bastard.”

“Okay, I’ll give you that.” Teddy conceded as he peeked into the storage container to find that he was right. “They’re going to pester me about having you over now.” Not that his parents hadn’t been insisting that for weeks now. They had met Jordan so quickly and had taken him in so fast that it shouldn’t have surprised Teddy, but it had been so long.

“I’ve never had dinner with someone’s parents before.” Skye held her hand out.

Teddy blushed as he let her take the blanket because he wasn't sure where they stood in their relationship. They were dating and seeing one another exclusively, but he hadn’t asked if they were boyfriend and girlfriend or whatever. Did he have to? Was that an adult thing or a kid thing? “Well, let's give them more time to sit and stew about it.”

She scoffed as they started for the front again. “You like torturing them.”

“Only sometimes.” Teddy shrugged.

“It’s funny.” She took his hand, interlocking their fingers. “Have you been working on editing the video about the drag brunch we went to?”

Teddy was glad for the change of subject. He could talk about his YouTube channel all day. It was still growing steadily, and most of the comments he got were positive. He was trying to keep May and June queer-focused for Pride, interspersed with his usual vlogs. Thus far he talked more in depth about his gender and sexuality. He featured Pada and Auntie Lily’s charity in a video. Then there was a whole video on the asexuality spectrum since he wanted to understand it himself. Dad was a wealth of knowledge for that one, and pointed him to decent resources. Now he was about to post the drag brunch that benefited an organization for black trans women.

There was no doubt that his whole family was going to watch, like and comment as they always did. Even his grandparents were set up on YouTube to encourage him. Jordan was there too, liking things and leaving the occasional comment as if they were just friends. They weren’t friends, Teddy doubted that could ever happen due to the fact he still had some sort of feelings about Jordan.

When they got to the park they found a spot where they could get some sun, and do some people watching. Once the blanket was spread out they sat down and unpacked the mini feast. Skye seemed impressed by the assortment of hummus, pretzels, veggies, cheese, meat, nuts, and fruits. He decided to omit the fact that it wasn’t all his idea.

“What are you thinking about?” Skye asked, popping a grape into her mouth.

Teddy frowned for a moment, surprised that he had been showing anything but interest in Skye or general happiness. “Ah, nothing. Just this is my first relationship since that break up.”

“Right, and suddenly I’m close to meeting your parents? Must be difficult. You two were together for four years. That’s like ten in teen years.” Skye nodded, reaching for a pretzel. Teddy had told her all about Jordan and the fall out of his directionless ways after the break up. It was interesting to talk about all of that with someone who wasn’t on his support team, but it also felt good.

“True, but I really like you.”

Skye gave a shy smile. “Ooooh, really? Is that why you had your tongue in my mouth for an hour the other day?”

He rolled his eyes. “Apparently so. I do want you to come by the house for dinner one night.”

“What if you tell them that next week? That way you can make your parents suffer a little longer.” Skye crunched on the pretzel. “Don’t thank me, I’m an evil genius.”

Teddy kissed her on the cheek. “You are.”

“I’m glad that you like me being an evil genius.” She leaned back on her hands, turning her face up to the sun. The rays caught the bright purple highlights in her hair. “Get your heart eyes off me.” She squinted over her sunglasses.

Teddy stuck his tongue out at her, hoping he wasn’t blushing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I have no such thing.”

“Teddy!” A very familiar voice called from somewhere behind him. He glanced to find Luna waving at him with Ro by her side. It was strange to have everyone back in Godric’s, Teddy nearly forgot sometimes that his friends were home. Now that he was in a better position, and feeling more confident than he did over the Christmas holidays so he wasn’t purposely avoiding things. Luckily, he hadn’t ran into Jordan yet though…

“Hey!” He waved at them.

“You’re Skye,” Ro declared as she and Luna got to their blanket. “I’m Ro, this is Luna.”

“Oh, Teddy’s cousins, yeah?” Skye pushed her sunglasses on top of her head. “I’m just meeting everyone today.”

“We’re hardly the half of it.” Luna sat down on the blanket, pulling her sister with her.

“Yeah, Ted’s told me all about the family.” Skye offered them both fancy flavored water that she had introduced Teddy to and he was currently obsessed with the strawberry lime one.

They both accepted, Ro was wearing some dark sunglasses, but Teddy knew she was watching Skye’s body language. There was no doubt that he was going to get a full rundown of how Ro felt about Skye. He looked forward to that even though he knew plenty about Skye because he had managed to keep her away from the family for a while. Things felt settled enough with Skye, he was ready to have his family meet her.

“You haven’t run off yet, so I think that’s a good sign.” Luna grinned, opening her water. “It’s such a nice day out, good job you’re having a lovely picnic date that we’re crashing.”

“Crash away, it seems like Teddy packed us a feast.” Skye pointed to the food laid out in the little lunch tins in front of them.

“We’re on our way to dinner with the parents, so we shouldn’t spoil dinner.” Ro smiled warmly. That was a good sign that she was getting good vibes from Skye. “Thanks for offering though.”

“Since Teddy isn’t hiding you away, we should all go out soon. Do you like painting, Skye? There’s a place that does those paint-along nights I’ve been wanting to try.” Luna tilted her head.

“I love painting.”

“She makes her own painted fabric sometimes.” Teddy informed Luna and Ro.

“I’m into costuming.”

“You have to meet our Aunt Lily then. She works at the theater in the costume department.”

“Teddy’s told me, I’m trying not to pester him for it so it doesn’t look like I’m using him for your aunt. Which I clearly am.”

“Clearly, you don’t like me at all,” Teddy teased her and she gave him a little crooked smile.

“I don’t blame you.” Ro laughed, moving to stand up. “We have to get going, Mum knows we’re just taking our time but Dad will worry if we’re late.”

Luna hopped up to her toes as well. “It was nice to meet you, Skye. We’ll do the painting thing soon?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Skye nodded before they all said their goodbyes and the sisters left. “That’s the witchy cousin?”

Teddy nodded. “I’m going to know all your deepest secrets.”

“I’m very scared,” her tone was dry as she slid her sunglasses back down over her eyes, falling on to her back.

“You should be, I know Ro doesn’t look scary but she is.” Teddy shifted to lay next to her, resting his chin on his hand to look down at her.

Skye reached up and nestled her fingers in his curls, slightly scratching over his scalp. A little flutter brushed against his ribs, sending goosebumps down his arms. “Are you just going to gawk at me or are you going to snog me?” An eyebrow arched over her sunglasses.

Instead of answering because he didn’t need telling twice, Teddy leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. The hand in his hair slipped down between his shoulders to bring him closer to her. For a moment the park melted away and all that Teddy could hear was his own heartbeat in his eyes and the slight sigh from Skye as his tongue teased into her mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

The zoo with Libby, Oliver, Jake, and Ainsley only became better when Skye surprised her there. Having Skye around any time lately made things even better lately. They spent the early afternoon walking around and chatting. It was the most perfect day out, and Teddy was glad to be able to spend it with her friends and girlfriend.

Afterwards, Skye drove Teddy home. “I wish I didn’t have to go to work.” Skye let out an annoyed noise.

“I’d tell you to not go and just come up and make out with me in my room like we’re back in school, but that’s irresponsible.” Teddy put her hand on Skye’s knee.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Skye asked, glancing over sideways.

“Nothing, I have some editing to do but I’m free all day. I can even hang out during editing if you don’t mind watching me.” Teddy squeezed her knee.

“I was thinking more along the lines of dinner at my flat. My flatmate’s out of town for work starting tomorrow and I thought, maybe, you’d want to spend the night.”

Teddy tried not to assume what that meant because she respected Skye’s sexuality and choices when it came to sex… but god she was hoping it would mean—

“Yes, I’m inviting you over to probably have sex. Don’t have a complex.”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want to assume!”

“You’re so bloody respectful. I’m going to thank your parents,” she declared, turning down Teddy’s street.

“Please don’t. Dad might cry and Pada will give us a sex ed talk.”

“Thank you Sirius and Remus. You raised such a wonderfully polite child who respects my sexual boundaries and doesn’t want to try to jump to conclusions when I invite her over to fuck.” Skye parked outside the house before throwing her head back and laughing.

“It’s basic decency! But yes I really really really want to have sex with you. Even if you’re giving me shit right now.” Teddy poked her in the ribs. “You’re the worst.”

“Yes, I am.” She leaned over the center console to give her a peck on the lips. “You like it.”

“I do.”

“Good because I like you and your polite punk arse.”

“It’s a fantastic arse.”

“Fucking wonderful.” She kissed her one more time before settling back in her seat. “As sad as I am to leave for work, I least I get to see you walk away.”

“Terrible line, but I appreciate it.” Teddy dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Okay, you go to work and I’ll go have family night. First you can watch me walk away.”

“I will. Bye, Teddy.”

She kissed her one more time before finally getting out of the car, making sure to walk nice and slow and swing her hips as seductively as possible. It was difficult not to laugh the entire time, especially when Skye gave a few honks and catcalls out her window.

When Teddy got through the door, she leaned against the closed door and laughed for a moment as Bucky came to greet her. It felt like she struck some type of lottery with Skye. Everything about her was brilliant, and she was glad that Skye felt that connection between them as well. Their relationship was building up slowly, and Teddy was glad for that. Plus, Skye wasn’t completely insane like the anyone she had tried to go on a date with recently.

After taking a moment to collect herself she followed Bucky out through the opened doors to the garden. She had assumed that her parents were there gardening or lounging about. It only took her a minute to realize that wasn’t what they were doing… or what they had done between the clothes that were tossed aside by the loungers and Dad’s garden stuff was neglected as if he had got up for an emergency -- or not an emergency.

“Jesus fuck, can’t you two just wait until tonight! It’s midday and I could have come home to -- oh god.” Teddy grimaced as Bucky came trotting over with a rope toy. “They just left you here to go and be disgusting, didn’t they boy? You poor thing.”

While she was playing around with Bucky both of his parents emerged from the house looking far too happy. Dad had a massive hickey, and Pada looked practically giddy. At least their general lovey dovey grossness was only gross because seeing parental PDA was just generally gross instead of causing that stupid ache in her chest as it had previously.

“You could have at least brought the clothes in with you,” she quipped, scratching behind Bucky’s ears.

“Our hands were full?” Pada gave a terribly lurid grin as they sat on the deck.

The noise she made at the comment was probably only at a pitch that Bucky could hear. Apparently it meant  _ give my human love _ because he was slobbering all over her cheek. “I don’t want to know what they were full with!”

“Good. Have fun?” They were beaming in a different way now.

Wrapping her arms around Bucky, Teddy sighed, thinking about the day with Skye and her friends. What a difference a few months could make in life. “Yeah, Skye came out with us too. Haven’t been to the zoo in ages.”

“Not since you were a lot younger, for sure. How is Skye?”

“She’s good.” Teddy paused briefly trying to decide how she was going to inform them that she was not going to be home tomorrow evening. She couldn’t just avoid the topic, and lying wasn’t something she had taken to since coming back from her spiral. Might as well just bite the bullet. “We’re gonna do dinner tomorrow at her flat.” She could feel the heat gathering at the apples of her cheeks.

Pada bit their lip, glancing at Dad then back to Teddy. They seemed as if they were acting as if they were holding something back. “Oh that sounds real nice…” Yeah, they were holding back excitement.

Teddy scrunched her nose, waiting for them to burst out with it. Dad didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the conversation. “What’s that tone about?”

“Nothing, nothing. Just wondering if you plan on staying the night?” There it was, Teddy was surprised at their restraint. Granted, she wanted to just tell the truth, but she liked making Pada guess.

“Yeah, probably.” She attempted to act as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Good, good to know. You know I’m only teasing.” Pada smiled at her.

“I know! It’s fine.” Teddy laughed, letting go of Bucky.

“If it helps, I hope you get a good shag.”

Teddy let out another ridiculous noise because she was in shock, even though she shouldn’t have been because it was her Pada after all. Dad shouted at them because he always acted that way when conversation about Teddy’s sex life came up.

“Oh my god. I can not deal with you.” Teddy put her head in her hands.

“Love you piccolina.”

“Love you too -- even if you have more sex than I do,” she muttered under her breath. How was it fair that her middle aged parents had far more sex than her almost twenty year old self? Not that middle aged people couldn’t have sex, but it didn’t seem very fair.

“I’m sure you’ll give it a good shot.”

“Fucking hope so.” Teddy sat back on her heels, grabbing for Bucky’s toy again.

Dad made a grunting sound. “Can we change the subject? Sirius, come over here and help me.”

Decided to have some fun with it, seeing as sex was not making him nauseous, Teddy laughed. “Nice hickey, Dad.”

“Ha, there’s my kid!” Pada chuckled, making their way over to Dad at the garden plot. “Giving as good as she gets.”

“God I wish someone would,” she said under her breath. Looking forward to her dinner with Skye tomorrow already. “Well, I was brought up by you two what do you expect?”

“Nothing less of course.” They looked at Teddy proudly, Dad was still bent over the flower bed.

“I’m not sure why I was dragged into it. I’ve only been planting here. Sirius, help me lay the seeds.” Dad handed them a seed packet as Teddy stood up from the grass, dropping the dog toy. Pada leaned into him a little before Dad kissed them on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“God, you two are gross.” She took a seat next to Pada near the plot.

“And yet, here you are.” Pada held out the purple trowel in Teddy’s direction. “Here, you can put the soil over top, right caro?”

“Sure, that sounds good.”

“You’re gross, but I’m probably just as gross.” It was inevitable that she was just as disgusting with Skye, wasn’t it? She grew up around them being affectionate, so that was the norm. Plus, she loved being affectionate.

“Oh I bet you are.”

Taking a beat, Teddy scraping her teeth over her bottom lip remembering how Skye and her had talked about doing dinner with her parents soon. Now or never seemed to be a good theme today. “Maybe Skye can come over for dinner one night and you can properly meet her?”

Pada looked to Dad as if reading his reaction. “That sounds really good, I’d love to meet her.”

“Sure, whenever you want to have her over, let us know.” Dad probably got an earful from Pada for meeting her before they did, so he was probably excited about her coming by.

“Yeah.”

Pada wrapped an arm around her. “Love you piccolina, we’re very proud of you.”

There was nothing about dating Skye that seemed very “proud of you” worthy. Granted, Teddy had been being hard on herself since New Year about being better or being her best. She was better, she just had trouble accepting it some days. “Proud of me?”

“Yeah, proud of you for how hard you’ve been working and how you’re doing what’s good for you.” Dad nodded as Teddy put some soil over the seeds.

“Exactly. Proud of you for being you. There’s a very small threshold for us to be proud of you, we’re your parents.  _ Everything _ you do makes us proud.”

“Everything I do.” There was a lot that happened over the last year that couldn’t have fallen into that category.

“Yep. I do not have the energy to list all of it, so just take my word.”

“Okay, okay.” Teddy didn’t want to go down the road of feeling bad about herself. “Do we have anything fizzy to drink?”

“Probably? I think there’s some of that fancy cranberry stuff in the fridge? Unless your Dad’s drank it all.”

Teddy went off to the kitchen, to get the cranberry stuff for her and Dad and a water for Pada. For the most part, she tried not to let the few months she had got lost get her down, but every so often she would think about it and get upset. Today it seemed like she was getting caught up in her feelings. There was never a rhyme or reason for any of that happening, especially when she had been feeling so good about life today. Her friends were fantastic and Skye was an amazing girlfriend. Not to mention her parents loved her and cared about her, even after everything.

It probably had to do with not giving herself enough slack and being too hard on herself. Letting her parents be proud of her was difficult, but they had plenty to be proud of because she had come a long way. She needed to be proud of herself more often. She needed to let other people be proud as well. There was a confident streak in her that she needed to tap into just as she used to before.

Once she got the fizzy drinks, she went back out to the garden to find her parents snogging as if they were teens. She cleared her throat to let them know she was there. “Oh god, really?”

Pada laughed, barely moving away from Dad. “Told you.”

Dad snickered as Teddy walked over to them with their drinks. “I’m sure you’re worse with Jor -- Skye.”

Pada said something, but Teddy was too lost on the slip up. The hollow ache in her chest seemed to be back with a vengeance at the mention of Jordan’s name, especially in this context with her new girlfriend. It had been so long since they broke up. Thinking about Jordan shouldn’t cause her to hurt anymore. A mention of Jordan’s name should just roll off of her shoulders now because it didn’t matter. She had a great relationship with Skye, she didn’t sit and linger on her past relationship anymore.

Also, did this mean that Dad wasn’t thrilled to have Skye around? Did Dad still like Jordan or did he not like Skye? Or what? Thinking about that didn’t help the twisting in her chest. It didn’t seem fair to Skye to have to come into the family when everyone was still close with Teddy’s ex-boyfriend. It also wasn’t fair if Dad didn’t want to give Skye a chance because she deserved to be let into everyone’s lives like Jordan was.

She just wanted to escape the discussion about it all. So that’s just what she did, excusing herself to her room to shut away the feelings for at least a little while. When Teddy got to her room, with Bucky following right behind her, she went to get changed into leggings and an old shirt. All she wanted right now was comfort but she didn’t feel like she deserved it from Skye because she still loved Jordan.

Feeling caught in the kind of haze that she thought she had shaken months ago, Teddy crawled into her bed and grabbed her phone. Instead of unlocking it she just checked the time to see that Skye was doing her pre-shift work now, so even if Teddy wanted to call, she wouldn’t have been able to talk. Not that Teddy would know what to say to her right now.  _ Hey, I’m just sad because my Dad said my ex’s name  _ \-- that didn’t seem the best thing to say to your fairly new girlfriend. Before this, Teddy thought everything was going great, now she wasn’t sure.

It didn’t take long for there to be a knock on her door and her Dad to be asking if he could come in. As much as she wanted to say to go away, she knew that it wasn’t helpful for her to do that. At first he told her about getting takeaway and how Pada went off to get ice cream so they could have a proper movie night. When things went wrong, the Lupin-Blacks hunkered down with ice cream and movies. She could imagine the conversation Pada and Dad had prior to Dad coming upstairs to talk to her. They both did the most all the time when Teddy was down, it made it difficult to be upset.

In a pause in the conversation, Teddy took a deep breath to fortify herself. She needed to talk to her Dad about it, and not pretend that it didn’t happen and it didn’t make her feel this way. “Do you not like Skye?”

The look on Dad’s face was instantly relieving. His shoulders slumped and his mouth turned down into a frown. “What? No, no I like Skye, annwyl. She’s very sweet from meeting her briefly at Recovery and you’re always talking about her and she sounds great. I didn’t mean to say that out there. It was a slip and I’m so sorry.”

“Okay… I’m glad.”

“If you like her and want to be with her, I’m sure she’s amazing. I can’t wait to get to know her better.”

Teddy shifted and patted the bed so Bucky would come back upon the bed with her since he had been walking between her and Dad to get some attention. As much as it felt good to know that Dad liked Skye, there was something still twisting at her chest. “I know it’s a bit… I know it’s a bit shit, thinking that was me for… for life, you know? But I do like her a lot.”

“Why is it shit? I’m glad that you like her a lot.” He stood up, coming to sit next to her and Bucky on the bed.

“I get the… you know, muscle memory or whatever. Used to saying Jordan because he was around a lot… and it's a bit shit that it still hurts whenever he’s mentioned.

“I’m sorry that it still hurts… do you … have you talked to Minnie about how you feel about Jordan, or anyone?” Dad tilted his head looking at her.

She sniffed, looking down at her chipped fingernail polish. “I should be over him by now.”

“I don’t think there’s a solid timeline. You were with him for years, right? You should talk to someone about it.” Dad rubbed her back.

“I wouldn’t know what to say.” Telling Minnie or anyone else that she still hurt over Jordan felt embarrassing.

“That it still hurts to talk about him, that you don’t know what to say about it, that you still have those feelings. The truth.”

As easy as it sounded, Teddy knew that it would be hard to talk about. But moving on wasn’t always going to be easy. “Yeah, maybe I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For wolfstar smut and Remus' panic, check out "the slip up" chapter in the older Teddy wolf star one shots


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, following her parents' attempts to make her feel better, Teddy woke up still thinking about Jordan and the situation with Dad. Even though she knew her Dad didn’t mean it and even though he seemed to like Skye, did he like Jordan better deep down? Was her whole family going to have a hard time accepting Skye? Not to mention that she still felt upset with herself for missing Jordan, so Dad was probably right about talking to someone even if she was somewhat ashamed about it. The whole thing felt messy, but she had to remember that she wasn’t as messy as she was over a year ago.

With a groan, she pushed herself out of bed and got changed into leggings and a workout top. Stretching and dancing always helped put her in a better headspace. So she padded down the landing to the pole room to do just that. Unsurprisingly, Pada was in there already because Pada loved an early morning workout. Even though she wanted some time to herself, she knew that walking away would make things worse. Granted, Pada would probably follow after her since Teddy swore she would talk to them if anything was wrong.

“Oh, morning Pada.” Teddy sighed, leaning against the doorway of the mini home studio. Somedays Pada was in their head with making routines, so Teddy didn’t want to break the process if they were in the middle of something. “Can I stretch or…”

“Morning piccolina. No, no you’re fine I’m mostly stretching,” Pada said, sitting on the edge of the sofa. “You sleep well?”

“Mmm, yeah.” She came into the room, moving towards the middle of the floor as she stretched her arms over her head. There was nothing better than stretching in the morning sometimes, even when everything else didn’t feel right. She got plenty of sleep, but she couldn’t shake that slight haze she was in. “I slept fine.”

Pada smiled, pulling their hair from their ponytail to retie it. “You sure? You sound tired.”

“Ha, yeah, I’m just thinking. I slept pretty well though.” Teddy sank to the floor, pressing her feet together and grabbing her ankles. Sometimes Teddy just stayed in her head before blurting out all her thoughts or feelings. Not always the best idea or best thing to do. Of course she knew that, but it wasn’t something she was good at practicing at times.

“What are you thinking about?” Pada sat opposite her and mirrored her stretch.

Taking a deep breath she pushed her knees towards the floor and bent forward slightly, and that was a fucking beautiful stretch. There was no avoiding talking about it with Pada, and it could help out… “Just what Dad said and what we talked about last night. I’m sure he told you that we chatted after he called Skye Jordan.”

“Yeah, he did piccolina. You know he didn’t mean it and it doesn’t mean we don’t like Skye, right?”

“I know, it’s just… I don’t know. It’s strange to still feel this way when I just hear his name. I really like Skye.” She straightened up. Skye was a great person, so creative, funny, and fucking stunning. Being hung up on Jordan, even if not always on her mind, wasn’t right or fair for her.

“I know, I know. You’re allowed to feel strange, and I think it’s entirely possible that you can feel any number of emotions about him, regardless of whether you really like Skye.”

“He broke up with me over nine months ago. I don’t want to feel anything about him.” Teddy stretched one leg out in front of her, reaching for her toes with her hands. She wrapped her fingers around the ball of her foot. 

Pada was still mirroring her. “Because we can’t control our feelings. They just  _ are _ . But you can control your actions around them, you know? Poppy used to tell me this every week. When I would get upset because I got angry or upset or sad with no  _ real _ reason. So, you  _ are _ feeling things… what kind of things are they?”

She scraped her teeth over her bottom lip as she filled through her feelings that were scattered around. Trying to pinpoint her feelings made her head spin. None of it made any coherent sense because there were so many emotions, so many conflicting emotions. “Angry because Dad brought Jordan up. Angry because I… because I miss him still to an extent…”

“Yeah,” Pada said softly. “I think you’re allowed to miss him. You had four years together, and it’s only been nine months, sweetie. You’re allowed to be angry too, because he broke up with you, and you love him… loved him, you know?”

Teddy sat up straight again, looking down at the floor because he wasn’t sure the  _ love  _ was completely in the past tense either. “I know, I just wish I didn’t. Do I tell Skye? I don’t want her to think that I don’t like her -- alot. I really like her and I think it could be good, you know? Like really good long term.”

Pada hummed, twisting to the side. “Well… coming from the person who didn’t tell your Dad my ex worked in the same building, or neglected to mention I went to Brazil because I broke up with my then-boyfriend… I don’t think you need to tell her. Unless you plan on  _ acting _ on those feelings, then no.”

That made sense to her because she didn’t plan on acting on it. She would never ever cheat on Skye or on anyone that she would date. At the same time it didn’t seem honest to let Skye not know that Teddy was having some strange feelings about Jordan. For some reason she felt like Pada not talking about that stuff with Dad didn’t go over well either because it didn’t seem like a great thing to do. Wasn’t it important to be honest? “Okay, yeah, I don’t want to be with him so, yeah.” She paused, furrowing her brow. Did they say that they fled the country after a break up? “Wait, you ran away to another country because you broke up with your boyfriend?”

Pada grimaced. “Well… I broke up with him  _ by _ going to Brazil.”

_ Oh _ , that was soooooo much worse than the first option. Shit, that was not good. “No! You didn’t even -- Pada!”

“This is a prime example of  _ do as I say not as I do _ , alright? I did send him a selfie from the beach I think. But that was  _ not _ appropriate and you shouldn’t do anything like that.”

“Oh my god.” Teddy put a hand on her forehead. That sounded like a dramatic, impulsive choice Teddy might fall into, but hopefully she never would because she was thinking much more clearly these last few months.

“Are you talking about Brazil?” Dad appeared in the doorway with a knowing look on his face. Yes, obviously Dad was not a fan of what Pada had done.

Pada gave Teddy a deer in the headlights kind of look. “Hi caro. Yes, but as a prime example of what  _ not _ to do.”

Dad laughed, shaking his head with that usual fond smile on his face that he had when Pada did something ridiculous. “Good. Anyone want breakfast?”

Breakfast sounded like a good distraction, but Teddy had a lot to think about. As much as Teddy wanted to take Pada’s advice and not tell Skye, she felt as if it was probably not good to not be honest about her current feelings. She told Jordan everything when they were together and it worked… until it didn’t; but they had a good relationship before Jordan broke up with her. Not being herself and not being honest wasn’t how Teddy wanted to do this with Skye, especially since they were getting so close. If Teddy went against what she believed, then it would make things not so great.

After breakfast, Teddy went to play with Connor so Uncle Reggie and Uncle Ben could have a bit of a day date while Auntie Hes taught a workshop. Not much editing was done while freeing the kingdom of Connodia from the evil dragon Dudley. It was very important work since Teddy was King Connor’s sidekick. Though Teddy was not knighted, she was just  _ Teddy _ . She attempted to get some sort of title but King Connor refused, the cheeky little thing.

When Teddy made it back home, she still had plenty of time to edit and upload before showering in order to be ready for her date. The whole while she thought about how happy Skye made her. It was scary to fancy someone like this after such a long relationship shattered to pieces. Teddy was scared of handing over her heart again, but she wanted to take the steps to do that. She didn’t want to lock her heart away and close herself off from something that could be true love. One of the steps was telling Skye that she still was sorting her feelings over Jordan.

So when she arrived at Skye’s flat, Teddy felt like she was putting on a happy face. After they settled on the sofa to chat and enjoy a cider, Teddy tried to stir up some courage. It was probably wrong that she couldn’t stop thinking how fucking hot her girlfriend was covered in tattoos and she had a new two tone hair style with black on one side and white blond on the other. The wrong part was that Teddy wanted to say screw the honesty and just get to the shagging — but that was gross. Teddy pushed that thought away, and decided to have a real conversation.

“So, ah, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Teddy shifted a little to face her.

Skye’s eyebrows knitted together, the worry written all over her face. Teddy couldn’t blame her because they hadn’t even had a hint of worry with their relationship yet. “What? You all right, Teddy?”

“Yeah, I’m fine! Really fine.” She took a breath. Surely Teddy was looking like the worst possible thing had happened. “So something stupid last night made me think and ah… my Dad slipped up and said Jordan instead of Skye because you know. We were talking about relationship stuff and called you the wrong name.”

She nodded, her brow still pinched because it didn’t make much sense without any context. “Yeah you dated him for ages. I’m sure that it’s bound to happen.”

“Exactly. But I got… it made me realize that I still… it still hurts when I think about him. I don’t want to leave you for him or anything. I don’t want anything to do with him. It’s just there, you know? I don’t want it to be because I like you a lot. It’s just there?”

Skye laughed. “Fuck, Teddy I thought you were going to break up with me. Shit, yeah, of course there’s still some kind of something there for him. You dated him for so long. It’s more than okay that you still have feelings.”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Thank fuck.”

“I’ve never dated anyone that seriously before so I have no frame of reference but I could see the difficulty because four years is a fucking long time. I appreciate you being honest with me.” She grinned, shifting forward and pressing a kiss to Teddy’s lips.

Sighing into the kiss, she put both hands on her thighs. “Okay, good, I’m glad that you understand.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, babe. I trust you.” She hopped up from the sofa and held her hand out to Teddy.

“What?” She laughed, putting her hand in Skye’s to let her pull Teddy up.

“A tour… to the bed.”

“I thought there was meant to be dinner at this establishment.”

“Never said what we were going to eat.” Skye snickered as they headed down the hallway.

“That is true.”

“Believe me, it’ll be a good meal.”

“I have no doubt.” Teddy bit her lip. Yeah, this was good.


	4. Chapter 4

Teddy added more garlic to the sauce, even to Dad’s protest. It needed it, no matter how much he complained. “Are you a vampire? It needs more. Maybe it’s the old age ruining your taste buds?” He grinned at his father.

“You would think that you’d be nice to me with your girlfriend coming over,” Dad teased, nuding him with his elbow as he looked into the pot. “Plus, snogging someone with a garlicky mouth.”

There was something about Skye that made Teddy think she could take anything either of his parents decided to give her. Dad’s cold sarcasm and dry wit? Yep, she’s got that. Pada asking her a million possibly invasive questions and giving her warnings and  _ looks _ . Nope, not scared of it at all. Skye had this air of invincibility around her, and she was just a general badass. No matter the dramatics that Pada and Dad put on the table, they were not going to easily scare her off. Not that they’d actually try to scare her off, but they were protective.

“I’m not worried.” He tested the sauces as  _ Changes _ began playing. A moment later Pada came sauntering into the kitchen with a glass of red wine in their hand. They seemed to be carrying themselves with the most confidence, in their cream top with an overly embellished collar. Something about Pada’s vibe was saying that Teddy should feel otherwise. “Maybe I’m a little worried.” Only a tiny bit.

Dad snorted a laugh. “We’re really excited to get to know her annwyl, right, love?” He went over to the table, where Pada was sitting back in their seat, a slight grin on their face.

“Yep! I wanna know all about her.” Pada leaned up to drop a kiss on the corner of Dad’s mouth. Dad kissed them back before straightening up.

Teddy rolled his eyes, going to stir the pasta into the pot. “Can we just be nice and not--”

The doorbell rang, and before Teddy could even put the spoon down, Pada was up out of their chair. Teddy couldn’t even speak, just forming the word  _ stop  _ as Pada clattered out of the room making a beeline for the front of the house. Dad doubled over laughing, not even trying to stop his spouse from going for the door.

“Dad!”

“What? They’re getting the door for you, you’re cooking.”

Teddy blew a raspberry in his direction, finally moving towards the living room. Skye’s loud laugh could be heard in the entryway. At least they weren’t tearing into her right from the start. Or they were and Skye was reacting in her usual  _ I don’t give a fuck _ way. Of course Pada wouldn’t be mean to her right off away, so Teddy knew he was overreacting.

“Where’d you get it?” Pada asked as Skye and they came through towards the kitchen.

It only took a second to realize that Pada was probably hassling Skye for her short black cotton dress with an empire waist and high neck. “You’re not stealing Skye’s clothes.” Teddy groaned.

“I won’t steal! I’ll borrow. You can raid my wardrobe, Skye. You know that Teddy does.” Pada chuckled before Teddy hugged Skye.

“No, no. Not happening.” Teddy huffed as Skye kissed Teddy on the cheek.

She shook her head as they walked back to the kitchen. “Your Pada’s style is great. That collar is fantastic.”

“Oh no, we don’t hand out compliments like that here.” Teddy shook his head.

“The egos,” Dad said grimly, stood by the stove as Pada tossed their hair over their shoulders.

Skye chuckled while Pada went to the cabinet. “Hi again, Remus.”

“Nice to see you Skye, glad Teddy didn’t scare you away from us.”

“No, it’d take a lot more to scare me away, I think.” She took Teddy’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Wine, Skye?” Pada held the bottle up.

“Sure, wine’s good.”

“Piccolino, wine night?”

Teddy bit his lip, he wanted a glass, but he also wasn’t sure if that was just the nerves. “Nah, I’m good with that fizzy cranberry stuff.”

“Alright,” Pada said, giving him a smile.

Teddy gestured to the table for Skye to take a seat as Dad came over to the table. “We’re doing pasta.”

“Oh? Is it the handmade stuff you were telling me about?”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“That pasta machine is years old now, huh?” Pada poured three glasses of wine.

“It’s ancient.” Dad glanced over his shoulder.

“I’m complete shit at cooking anything, god.” Skye pulled a face. “I would never be able to make pasta.”

“Teddy is the best cook of us all, by far.” Pada grimaced then shot a smile towards Dad. “No offence caro.”

“None taken.”

Teddy looked between the three of them, feeling more than a bit awkward. Was it like this with Jordan? “I am the best cook.”

“The egos,” Pada said gravely, sitting in their seat. “Come on Skye, sit down, grab your wine and start your life story for me. Ages 0-5.” Thankfully they were grinning behind their glass.

“No,” he said, trying to be stern. “You don’t need to.”

“No, love, she probably can’t remember much from them. Let’s go with formative years.”

“Ooh, alright. Teen years. You’re probably too young to have gone through that awful frosted eyeshadow phase huh?”

Skye chuckled, running her fingers through her hair. “Yeah, a bit too young. I grew up learning everything I needed from Youtube tutorials.”

Teddy nodded in agreement. “Not everyone has a Pada to help them.”

Pada chuckled, sipping their wine. “The egos, piccolino. Thank you.”

“Wow, we’re not going to be able to leave this kitchen tonight.” Dad kissed Pada on the cheek.

“Well, one more compliment: you both are adorable. How come you didn’t tell me that your parents are so cute and in love.” Skye rested her chin on her hand, watching them with a grin.

Teddy rolled his eyes, sinking in his seat.

“Oh you’re adorable. I like her piccolino.” Pada laughed, gesturing with their wine glass. “So what do you do, Skye? And I don’t mean for money, what do you love?”

Skye perked up. “I love costuming, I make most of my own clothes.”

“Has Teddy introduced you to his aunt yet?” Dad sipped his wine.

“Not yet.” She grinned at Teddy.

“Caro, you have to be more specific. Teddy has like ten aunts. He means Lily. She works in the costuming department at the Royal… well, she practically  _ is _ the costuming department.”

“He’s told me, he knows I’m only dating him for that reason.”

Teddy nudged her leg under the table. “Yeah, yeah.”

Pada laughed, shaking their head.

It was strange to see Skye sitting in the seat Jordan always sat chatting away with Teddy’s parents as if she belonged there. At least the conversation was going well, and they seemed to like one another. The strangeness of it all was hopefully going to all melt away eventually. He really liked Skye.

Dinner went perfectly, Teddy became more and more relaxed as everyone talked away about everything. Pada and Skye discussed in detail what they were both planning to wear to Pride next weekend, and Dad tried to insist that Skye needed to get climbing soon -- they even planned a day to go climbing for Christ's sake. That was good though.

“That was perfect Teddy, you were right about the garlic.” Dad pushed his plate away.

“Thanks Dad, I knew I was right.”

“Your Dad’s just a secret vampire, or at least pretends to be.”

Teddy glared at them, knowing they were thinking about hickeys and now was not the time to be thinking about hickeys. “Right, so do we have dessert?”

“That’s a silly question, of course we do. Grandma made cake.” Dad pushed his chair back. “So, what should we do? Should we play a board game?”

The laugh on Teddy’s lips fell short thinking about how they played a board game with Jordan that first night.

“Ah, no no caro,” Pada said quickly, shooting Dad a look. “Not the family competitive spirit. We could watch something?”

Dad’s smile faltered before going to pick up the plates. “Right, shit, you can’t be exposed to that yet Skye. Is there a dance movie with good costumes?”

Skye seemed oblivious to the whole undercurrent of tension, thankfully. “There’s about a million of them.”

“Yes! Thank you Skye, I was going to say that.” Pada grinned, putting their hand on Teddy’s arm as they went past into the living room.

Teddy stood up. “Dad, do you need help with the cake?”

“Nah, I got it. Go on through.” Dad set the dishes in the sink as Skye hopped out of her seat. “I’ll just bring it through with some plates.”

“That sounds good,” she said before taking Teddy’s hand and leading him through the living room. “Sirius, Teddy says you always make everyone dance to the movies.”

“Oh, of course. I don’t  _ make _ you dance, but if you want to learn then I’m here to teach.” Pada chuckled, already sitting in their usual corner of the sofa.

“Teddy’s always trying to teach me too. I feel so fucking awkward and tall sometimes though.” Skye sat down next to Teddy on the loveseat.

“You’re not awkward.”

“Absolutely not. There are plenty of tall dancers, especially in modern dance. Not ballet corps of course, they’ve got height restrictions but—ah. You’re definitely not awkward, darling.”

Skye leaned into Teddy as he put his arm around her. “Thanks, I’m still not sure about my coordination. I can sew like it’s no one’s business but trying to get me to do something on the dance floor isn’t pretty. Probably why I listen to so much hard music, less dancing -- more moshing.”

“Ah! Yes, I like that.” Dad came through with the cake. “See, that’s why I like punk so much.”

“Oh here we go, you’ve unleashed Punk Remus.”

Teddy leaned forward towards the coffee table. “Skye, you’ll love Punk Remus.”

“I’m sure.”

“Don’t encourage him.” Teddy went to grab the cake knife.

“Psh, don’t listen to him Skye, we encourage each other in this house.”

“To a point.” Teddy snorted a laugh. “We just don’t want to get either of them started on things.”

Dad held out a plate for him to put the cake on. “As if we want to not get Teddy started on cooking and the climate and Youtube.”

Pada hit Dad lightly around the arm. “Don’t mention the Y word!”

Teddy scoffed, handing Skye the plate. “I’m not that bad!”

“I mean… you are.” Skye gave a little half smirk.

“Ha! She knows you, piccolino.”

Skye grabbed a fork from the table, laughing away. “I think you’re brilliant at it. One day you’ll make movies and I’ll make the clothes.”

Pada pointed their fork at Teddy. “If it’s a musical I better do the choreography.”

Teddy sat back on the loveseat with his plate. “As much as I love you Pada--”

“Wait, it should have a climbing scene too if Pada gets to work on it.”

Skye laughed as Teddy rolled his eyes.

“Climbing and dancing? C’mon? What’s our target audience?” Pada gasped. “Wait, Teddy, you need to write a screenplay of your Dad and I!”

Teddy shoved some of the chocolate cake in his mouth, attempting not to roll his eyes once again as Skye nodded. “Teddy told me about some of your story and honestly it sounds like it’d be a great movie.”

“I’m not writing a screenplay about you two. You do it yourself.” Teddy waved a hand.

“I don’t know,” Dad said, taking a seat next to Pada. “Your most popular video is about us.”

That was something that Teddy was never going to live down with his parents, was it? The BDSM video made him go a bit viral. Not that he wasn’t happy about that, but his parents did love to bring it up now.

“ _ That _ was a good video.” Skye pointed with her fork, nodding.

“Oh god, we’re not talking about it.”

“I think we are,” Pada said smugly. “You owe us for your fame obviously, piccolino.”

“So I’ll write my greatest work about you, I guess.”

Dad chuckled as he turned the TV on. “You should write about your Pada. It’d be a good story.”

Pada grinned, throwing their hands up. “Yes! It would be an queer classic!”

“Skye, look what you’ve done!” Teddy threw a hand out.

“No, no, Teddy, you’re not seeing the possibilities!” Skye nodded.

“The possibilities are endless, piccolino!” Pada sat forward, setting their plate on the arm of the sofa. “Who would play me?”

“Oh! Timothee Chalamet!” Dad was far too excited by that prospect.

Pada gave him the biggest grin. “You flatter me.”

“Isn’t he old enough to be your child?” Teddy squawked.

Skye threw her head back, laughing. “He’s old enough for your Dad to oogle.”

Dropping his fork, Teddy reached out and gave Skye’s shoulder a shove. “OOGLE? MY DAD IS NOT OOGLEING.”

Dad was too busy laughing to reply.

Pada threw their head back laughing. “He oogles!”

“No, no!” Teddy put a hand over his eyes.

Skye threw an arm around Teddy. “Yeah, but you’re Dad’s totally a silver fox, so he deserves it.”

Teddy shrieked.

Pada was howling. “Isn’t he?!”

“Oh my god!” He looked at her with wide eyes. “Skye!”

Dad’s cheeks were a deep red. “I appreciate that Skye, thank you.”

Pada leaned in and kissed his cheek, still laughing. In return Dad wrapped his arm around their waist and pulled them close.

“Teddy, it should be a compliment, you look a lot like your Dad.”

He set the plate aside, blushing now at Skye’s words. “I  _ guess _ .”

“You’re our kid, of course you’re attractive, piccolino.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s watch a movie, huh?” Teddy insisted as Skye planted a big kiss on his cheek.

Of course the rest of the night went just as smooth. There was an instructional on how to do the main dance number, and Skye did a great job even though she said she was too clumsy and awkward. Teddy insisted that it wasn’t her height because Teddy was taller. It was strange to see the ever confident Skye a little vulnerable, but it was nice to see a different side of her.

After seeing Skye off, and going up to his room to do some editing, a text from her popped up on his phone.

_ I had a great night. Love your fam _

**Yah?**

_ Yah. _ _   
_ _ Can’t wait for Pride. See your Pada’s style _

**And meet my Auntie Lily so you can finally leave me**

_ You know I’m joking right? _

**Of course I know** **  
** **You met my Dad properly** **  
** **You know I can deal with all sarcasm**

_ Just making sure _ _   
_ _ Talk to you tomorrow? _ _   
_ _ Maybe we can sleep over _

**I guess**

_ You guess, sure _ _   
_ _ Image.jpg _ _   
_ _ Is this convincing? _

**Jesus** **  
** **Fucking** **  
** **Christ**

**😘😘😘😘😘😘😘**

**Sdkjdfjkgh**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check Out Older Teddy One Shots for some Remus and Sirius smuttiness


	5. Chapter 5

June and July seemed to fly by in a blink of an eye. First was Teddy’s 20th birthday, celebrated in a more low key way than normal. First there was dinner with his parents then his friends and Skye had a very tame party at Skye’s flat. Everyone got along well, it was the first time his old and new mates got together and Skye’s first event as Teddy’s girlfriend.

Not long after was Pride, which Skye made fucking genderfluid hotpants for Pada to wear, and Teddy had a little run in with some arseholes, but they couldn’t ruin his Pride. It was amazing as always and Teddy slept over Skye’s place, which he had a tendency to do of late. Pada and Dad didn’t seem to mind even though they made terrible terrible jokes.

“My god, is that my child? I haven’t seen you in years. You’ve grown some much.” Like that, which Dad said when they came home one night in mid-August.

“Very funny, the joke gets better and better every single time, you know? It’s a real kneeslapper,” Teddy deadpanned.

“Hi piccolino, pronouns?” Pada smiled at him from where they were sprawled in the living room floor going through a pile of records. They had been wanting to add to the collection but Dad wouldn’t let them.

“He/him.” Teddy dropped his bag and fell on to the sofa.

“How’s your day been so far?” Dad took a sip of his coffee, meaning he hadn’t been up for very long. Though Teddy would have still been in bed if Skye hadn’t had to go work the lunch shift.

“It’s been good.” He tried to not smile or blush because he had a  _ very _ nice morning with Skye.

“Oh  _ I’m sure _ .” Pada had a knowing look on their face.

Dad coughed, setting his coffee down on the table. “Not long left until school starts, huh?” 

As excited as Teddy was to start, he felt a step behind everyone. Not that being a year behind was a big deal, but he felt so old going into his first year at uni. Maybe it also had to do with the fact that everyone probably knew more than him about his field, they probably knew for some time what they wanted to do.

“Yeah, I have to go get my books and stuff soon. I’m all registered for classes too.” Teddy pointed his toes out as Pada watched him from the floor with records all around them. Starting school had been a goal for so long, and it was just around the corner now. Even if he felt behind, it was still important to him.

“I’m so excited for you piccolino. Ah! We should have a party.” Pada’s eyes went wide and Dad snickered.

“Love, a party? Is that the answer to everything.” Dad looked at Teddy with a questioning look.

“Caro, we are Lupin-Blacks, we love a party.”

Teddy bit his lip. He knew Pada was trying to be nice and upbeat, but it felt weird to have a party. “I’m not sure I want a party. Do you have parties for starting uni?”

“I mean, yeah, I think people do. You don’t have to have one though if you don’t think it’s usual.”

Pada made a strange noise. “You two, when have we ever done the usual? Look at us, we are not usual.”

They had a point, but he still wasn’t excited at the idea of having a big bash to return to school. “I don’t think so Pada, I appreciate the idea but it’s sort of weird to celebrate me having my life together.”

Pada pouted a little. “Whatever you want, Teddy.”

“We could do something small with us. Maybe Skye too.” Teddy suggested to them.

They perked up a bit. “That’s a great idea. Anywhere you want to go, piccolino, we’ll do that.”

Dad picked up his tea, looking thoughtful. “There’s that new place that’s on the way to where we go climbing that has this beautiful outdoor area.”

“Right, Fortescues?”

Pada started to gather up their records. “That’s a great place. Shall we go there? Are you going to invite Skye? I can make a reservation for us for next weekend.”

“Yeah, sure. She took Saturday off so we can have a day off before I go to school.” Teddy brought his legs up onto the sofa. “We don’t really have plans.”

“Now you do. A nice dinner that’s on your parents.” Dad laughed before watching Pada for a moment. “Love, what are you doing? Did you decide what records to donate yet?”

Pada looked meekly -- as if they could be meek -- over the ones in their arms as they slinked back to the shelf. “Ah, not today, caro. I need to make the reservation.”

“Which will take two minutes online.” He snorted a laugh. “Nice try.”

“I’ll do it tomorrow. It’s so nice out.” Pada was now at their shelves.

Dad put a hand on his forehead and Teddy couldn’t help but laugh. They were so ridiculous, but Teddy couldn’t blame them for not wanting to give up their records. “Why do you  _ need _ to give up your records?”

“Because more won’t fit and there’s a few first pressings coming in the mail.”

“T. Rex, piccolino! Electric Warrior!” Pada moved back to gather up the rest of the records.

He let out a low whistle, not even guessing at how much it had to have cost. “Oh, that’s a fucking find.” Teddy was always impressed with Pada's ability to find rare albums. They got a first pressing of Pet Sounds for Dad last year as an anniversary gift, and Dad was over the moon.

“One of many!” They waved a hand. “Now I have to go through and get rid of ones that don’t mean a lot. Which is mad because it’s like picking a favorite child. I don’t make you get rid of books.”

“That’s because I do that on my own.”

“We don’t make Teddy get rid of his band shirts.”

“That’s because I do it myself.” Teddy scoffed. “I do remember you making me get rid of my stuffed animals when I had too many.” Though it didn’t work because he cried when he nearly donated one of his unicorns and Dad instead bought him ice cream and another stuffed animal. That was probably different from the hundreds and hundreds of records Pada had and wanted.

Somehow, Pada did manage to purge a couple of records by handing them over to Vic to take care of. Teddy was sure that Vic was just going to smuggle them back into the house for Pada one day, but Dad would figure that out eventually.

The next weekend, Teddy’s nerves about school had ratched up a few notches. His mates were reminding him over and over that everything was going to be okay. By Saturday, he was looking forward to doing something other than working, editing, or worrying over the next step he was about to make in his life. Skye had been working all week in order to have the weekend off, as well as pulling doubles so she could make some extra money since a few of her coworkers were on vacation.

“I’ve never been to this place.” Skye looked out the window at the restaurant in front of them. “Heard about it though, Anna at work used to be a server here. It’s supposed to be great. Anna only left because it was too much of a drive.”

“It is a hike.” Dad parked the car.

“Speaking of hikes, caro, I’m surprised that you’re not making us all go climbing afterwards.” Pada kissed Dad on the cheek before hopping out of the car.

“We’re in nice clothes. Though I did wonder if we could go earlier, but I was shut down.” He glanced back at Teddy with a grin before getting out of the car. Climbing did sound nice, but it had been raining out earlier in the morning so Teddy had thought to suggest it.

As quick as he could, Teddy followed after everyone out of the car. Skye was nearly at his door as Teddy climbed out. She seemed extra happy today, probably thrilled not to be working a Saturday night dinner service. “Our child, going off to uni,” she said dramatically, snatching up his hand.

“Oh god, you’ve been hanging out with my parents too much.” Teddy bumped his shoulder into hers as they walked through the doors. He wasn’t complaining because he had been worried there for a bit that Skye wouldn’t be taken in like Jordan had been.

The inside was far more light and airy compared to the large stones that made up the outside walls of the building. Though they weren’t eating inside, Pada had managed to get them a seat on the back deck that looked over towards the hills that Dad had brought him climbing so many times.

Even though there was a banner that read  _ Best Wishes! _ , it took Teddy a moment to realize that his friends and family were all standing there on the patio. Libby, Oliver, Jake, and Ainsley were standing in the front throwing their arms up in surprise. Ro had an arm around Luna and Hettie wearing the biggest grin. Vic and Louis were near a table filled with gift bags and a navy and silver cake. Harry and Hettie were standing with Uncle James and Gramps. All of his aunts and uncles were shouting and his grandparents were already coming over for hugs.

“I thought we weren’t having a party!” Surprisingly Teddy wasn’t upset like he thought he would have been. When Pada brought up a party, it felt so strange and out of place to celebrate. It was like  _ hey I got my life together, let’s party _ . Maybe he deserved to be happy about how far he had come after dropping down so deep last year.

“We couldn’t help it, piccolino.” Pada wrapped them up in a hug before the grandparents got to him.

“I tried to stop them, but there’s no making that happen when they’ve got an idea.” Dad patted his back before kissing the top of his head.

“You deserve it so much.” Pada pulled back, holding his shoulders tight. For some reason tears pricked at the corners of his eyes threatening to overflow.

“TEDDY WE MADE SURE THEY HAD YOUR FAVORITE FOODS!” Auntie Marly shouted. “AND THE GOOD CAKE!”

“Thank you.” He sniffled and Grandma managed to hug him once his parents were out of the way. He hid his face in her shoulder for a moment to hide his tears.

“Don’t be mad at your Pada, dear, you’ve earned a celebration. You didn’t even let us have a birthday for you this year.” She ruffled his curls.

That was true, he wanted nothing to do with celebrating him. It seemed so strange to do when he had nearly demolished everything in his life. About a year ago he had made that fake connection with a fake friend. He had made shitty choice after shitty choice. A wall had been built up around himself, keeping out the people who had cared so much for him, and he tried to drown out that directionless feeling with all the wrong things. 

Now he had it back together. He was running a growing YouTube channel and on his way to getting his degree now. The relationship with his parents was repaired, and he had his family and friends — old and new — surrounding him. Then there was Skye, who was just brilliant. But sometimes, something felt slightly off kilter. Like he was missing a step or a piece to the puzzle. He had come so far, and moved on so much, but still Jordan crossed his mind.

Lately the thoughts about Jordan were far more nostalgic. Like things happened and Teddy would remember what he and Jordan had done. For instance, at Pride he could remember all the times they had gone together. The first time Jordan was out and proud, making Teddy’s heart swell, or when they had gone to a brunch drag show before the parade one year. The feelings that were there weren’t desperate longing, but happiness. Maybe he had truly moved on if he didn’t feel that terrible ache in his chest when he thought of his ex-boyfriend. Maybe things were at a good place now. Maybe they could be on good terms.

That didn’t matter at the moment because Teddy had a party to enjoy. His friends and family spoiled him with gifts — so many school supplies and random things they knew he would love. They are good food and just enjoyed each other’s company like they always did. It was great to see his friends from group with his family, and see how even the people who knew who they were didn’t judge them because his family didn’t do that. Teddy was so lucky.


	6. Chapter 6

Campus was beautiful. It was a big draw to Teddy, not to mention the fact it was just outside of Godric’s, so Hogwarts was an easy choice. Their degree in  Digital Film and Production was everything Teddy could ask for as well. The fit seemed to be just perfect even if she was maddeningly nervous about the day.

“Oh, caro, no crying.” Pada patted Dad’s hand at the kitchen table as Teddy filled up her travel mug with coffee. She was too stressed to give either of them a hard time, so she just listened as she got herself some food to bring with her.

“Why would I cry?” Dad squawked; he dropped his half eaten toast on his plate. “I’m just having breakfast.”

“I just know you’re all emotional your child is going off to uni. Look how beautiful you look in your sundress. It’s a perfect first day outfit.” Pada stood up to give her a hug.

She laughed and she kissed their cheek. “Thanks.”

“You’re going to do great, Teddy.” Dad assured her once Pada pulled away. “I’m really proud of you — and no I am not crying over this.”

“It’s okay if you want to, caro.” Pada went to stand behind Dad, sliding his arms over his shoulders.

“You’re both saps.” Teddy checked her backpack one more time to make sure she had everything she needed for her three classes that day. Her parents insisted no work for the first week to settle in, but she knew she’d be fine. Though it would give her an excuse to shoot a few videos for her channel. Today she was forgoing her camera, but decided to use her phone for anything she wanted to capture for a video. Her nerves were so high, she doubted that she would want to shoot anything.

“We know we are.” Pada kissed Dad on the cheek.

“And there’s no changing us now, annwyl.”

Teddy let out a long breath as she swung her backpack on. “That’s good to know, I guess. I’m off, please don’t cry.”

“We won’t cry,” Dad reassured her. “We’re very proud of you though.”

“I know, who would have thought less than a year ago that I’d be here with my life together.” Teddy joked as she turned the travel mug in her hands.

“We did.” Dad patted Pada’s arm, and they let him stand up.

“Yes, as the big sap says, we thought you’d get it together all along. We all make mistakes piccolina, and we all need the opportunity to set them right,” Pada explained as Dad gave her a bone crushing hug.

“You’re phenomenal. Go kick some arse -- figuratively, don’t start any fights on your first day on campus.” He kissed the top of her head before stepping back.

“The second day?”

“If someone’s a real twat, yes.” Dad gave a firm nod before Pada hugged her again.

“You’re going to do amazing, sweetie, I just know it. You’re the smartest and kindest kid -- and I know you’re not a kid but you’re my baby.” They rocked her a little.

Teddy snickered as Pada pulled back. “Thanks. I need to go be phenomenally early to class.”

“Take after you Dad that way.”

“Thanks, it’s the anxiety.” She rolled her eyes.

With one last round of goodbyes, and Pada insisting on a picture for Instagram, Teddy was off to conquer her first day at uni. After finding parking, she found her way across campus as she had done on a bit of a test run when she had come to pick up her books the other day. Her first two classes were back to back today then there was one more just after a gap that she was going to use for lunch and maybe a bit of studying when need be. That was her Mondays and Wednesdays. Then Tuesdays and Thursdays she had two morning classes and the rest of her day free to work at the studio, write papers, or film and edit. It was a nice schedule.

Finishing up her first two classes, she was even happier. Her professors were nice, and the subjects were interesting. She hadn’t realized how much she had missed being in school the last year. It wasn’t as nerve wracking as she had made it out to be in her head. Walking across campus to the closest dining hall, Teddy was texting her parents and giving an update to Skye and Ro on what her day had been like so far. A year ago Teddy was on the edge of a downward spiral, now she felt completely steady and sure of herself.

After acquiring a chicken wrap with all kinds of good stuff in it, she found a spot to sit at a table by one of the large glass windows overlooking the green. Daydreaming a little as she listened to Tansviolet and enjoyed her food, Teddy got lost in her thoughts about what the next few years was going to bring. Since she was saving up, and her parents were offering to help, Teddy wanted to get a flat of her own soon. She didn’t want too much help, but she knew she could take it if she wanted. There was no way she’d make the same mistake twice.

When Teddy realized someone was standing near her table, she assumed it was a classmate. Maybe she’d actually made a friend on her very first day. The last person she expected was Jordan, looking a little stressed out. “Hey,” she could see his lips form the word as she took out her earpods.

“Jordan? What are you doing here?”

“I’m going to uni here now, ah…” He looked down at his tray. “Could I sit? All the other tables have people and I don’t fancy sitting with complete strangers.”

Teddy just nodded. She hadn’t seen Jordan since New Year’s Eve, and had managed to avoid him on his breaks and during the summer. “You’re not at St. Andrews anymore?” She asked the stupidly obvious question.

“Yeah,” Jordan groaned as he reached for his water. “It was bloody freezing all the time. So poncy, no punks for miles, and I just… I missed the small city. You know? It’s just… it’s not the same there.”

Well, this was unexpected, to say the least. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out, I know you wanted to get your degree there.”

Jordan shrugged. “I just want to get my degree somewhere I’m happy, and I’m the happiest in Godric’s. Hogwarts has a good program, so I was naive to just write it off, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that.” Teddy bit her lip, happy to know they could have a casual conversation now. Her anger and feelings seemed to have ebbed recently, especially since her and Skye had been getting closer and closer. “I’m glad that you’re somewhere happy.”

“Yeah, me too.” He gave him that half smile he did when he was unsure of things. “How’s your day going so far?”

Teddy couldn’t hold back her grin. “Amazing. I’m excited. How about you -- except for not being able to find seating?”

“Oh, ha, good. I just had one class this morning and I have a lab later. My last class, someone was wearing plaid pyjama bottoms, tucked into _Ugg_ _boots_ , and what had to be last nights dress over the top..”

She snorted, clamping a hand over her mouth. “No, really? I get the tired college student aesthetic, but try harder.”

“Okay Tan France.” Jordan reached for his fork. “Though I’ll take that over people showing up all dressed nicely.”

“It was really that bad up there?” She raised an eyebrow.

“My roommate wore khakis and once I saw him with a sweater over his shoulders and he wasn’t going to an 80’s party.”

“You’re joking. It couldn’t have been that bad. People don’t actually wear stuff like that, do that? That’s some myth.”

Jordan shook his head with a grim look on his face. “No, it’s real. He also asked me who The Weird Sisters were.”

“Blasphemy,” she deadpanned.

“Everything was fucking horrible. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Mmm, shit happens. At least that stupid life choice didn’t fuck things up majorly for you.” She took another bite of her wrap, hoping that he’d think that she was talking about breaking up with her and not have him ask about her mistakes.

“Yeah, I’ve heard things weren’t so great for you. I mean you alluded to it enough when we talked and I saw some Instagram post about people being proud of you from your party last weekend.”

She chewed her wrap slowly, trying to decide what to say. “Yeah, things are shit when you’re going through an existential crisis.”

Jordan’s lips turned down. “I’m glad you’re happier. You seem happier than the last few times I saw you too.”

“Yeah, I’m much happier.” And that wasn’t a lie. She was the happiest she’d been in over a year now. She had uni and a direction in which she wanted to go. She had a hobby that was something that she loved, and she was just  _ happy _ .

“I’m really glad. Can we -- do you think we’re ever going to be friends again?” Jordan rubbed the back of his neck.

Teddy nearly melted at the soft, unsure tone in Jordan’s words. For a long while she didn’t think that she would ever want to see his face again or be anything close to friends. But things were different now. Teddy was in a different place now, and she wanted to be okay with Jordan. “Well, maybe, yeah. I think we could do that if you could.” Teddy didn’t want to say  _ as long as you don’t love me anymore _ because that twisted at something in her chest she didn’t like.

“Yeah, I miss hanging out with you and well, with everyone.”

“They miss you too.”

Jordan smiled, nodding a little. “That’s good. Even your Pada?”

“Oh god, maybe not them.”

Snickering, he rested his chin on his hand. “Ha, I get that. They warned me not to break your heart.”

Teddy wasn’t sure what to say because that was true. Though she was sure that Pada would be okay with Jordan now that Teddy seemed to be okay with him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jenn wrote Sirius' POV here!

By mid-October Teddy had made it through over half of her first term. She was flying through her courses, and enjoying uni more than she seemed to enjoy school before. When she wasn’t in class she was studying or writing papers or meeting with her classmates or shooting or editing. It was just the right amount of challenging while giving her skills she needed for the future. Being at uni felt right, it felt like she was doing exactly what she was meant to do. Even though she loved cooking and baking, she was sure the hobby never made her this happy and satisfied.

Outside of her classes, Teddy was still working at Ascendance when she had time or at Recovery when there were events. The money she had been saving, was growing nice and steady. She was hoping to be getting her own space after the New Year -- or at least by next spring. On top of that she was spending time with her friends and family, and her life was far flung from what it had been exactly a year ago when she had run from her home and her safety.

Not to mention every Monday and Wednesday she got lunch with Jordan. Of course she had told Skye about this recurring lunch date that was not a date. It was nice to have someone she knew on campus, and Skye didn’t have a problem with it because she trusted Teddy not to cheat on her. Getting lunch with Jordan made things even easier at Hogwarts. As good as things were going, she still felt a little lost in the flow of campus. It was a little difficult to make friends because she didn’t live on campus. Jordan was in the same boat as her, so they just got each other.

But thankfully it was now the weekend, and Teddy was happy to take time off from school and work. She was picking Skye up on her way to pick up ice cream and some things they needed to make pizza. It was the usual Friday pizza and movie night that Teddy cherished. She was sure that even when she moved out she’d still come home to do it, or maybe she could have her parents over her place. It was weird to think about doing stuff like that, but it was exciting too.

“Hey, babe.” Skye slid into the car, setting her bag down on the floor. “I’m ravenous, I’m getting a candy bar to tide me over.”

Teddy chuckled as Skye leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “How was your day?”

“All right, I got a huge tip from some fancy businessmen on their lunch today so I’m doing excellent.” She grinned as Teddy turned to kiss her properly. “Oh, yeah, even better now.”

Teddy laughed when she pulled back. “Well, that’s good. I’m sure it’s better because you’re about to get some candy.”

“Of course.” She turned the radio up before pulling her black cardigan with an embroidered spider web around her. “Have you thought if you wanted to go to the Halloween party next weekend?”

“The one at the pub?” Teddy started to drive to the store. “Yeah, it should be fun. I’m assuming you already know what costumes you want to put us in. You’ve probably been sewing them since the start of the month.”

“I mean, I’ve already finished mine, I’ve been waiting on you to decide.” She laughed. “I’m joking because there’s no sewing. I want to go as Sid and Nancy. It’ll be great. If you’re on the fem side of the spectrum then I’ll be Sid, I don’t mind.”

“Yeah, yeah that’s perfect.” Teddy tried to sound annoyed by it but it was perfect because she didn’t have to do much to get a costume for that. Maybe Pada would let her borrow a fishnet shirt and their leather jacket with the pins and patches that used to be Dad’s. Of course she had her own things she could wear, but there was a certain look that she was going for from a picture she had seen.

“Excellent, I’ll RSVP then.” She took her phone out. “It’ll be fun, there’s some bands playing. I think Lib said she wanted to go too.”

Whatever they did was certainly going to be better than whatever she did last year… she really couldn’t remember what the was. It didn’t matter though because she had grown so much since then.

When they got back, Pada was sitting in the kitchen looking at their laptop with their glasses on. They groaned and shut their laptop. “People are idiots.”

Teddy laughed as she went to put the bags on the counter. Without asking Skye started to help put the food away. They had been seeing each other for five months now. Teddy wondered if it was strange they hadn’t said that they loved each other. She really cared about Skye, and really liked her but sometimes it seemed as if something was missing.

“Yeah Pada, we know that.” Teddy went to go take out some supplies for cooking the pizza.

“Who’s being moronic now?” Dad asked, coming into the kitchen with Bucky trotting in behind him.

“It doesn’t matter,” Pada declared as they stood up from the kitchen table, wrapping his arms around Dad’s shoulders. “It’s pizza and movie night.”

“Exactly,” Skye pointed at Teddy. “No discussions about school allowed.”

Dad laughed as he opened the fridge. “Too true, Skye. They’re a couple of work-aholics.”

“Not fair, you know I’m awful with boundaries.” Sirius snickered. “Piccolina, we can just talk shop all night.”

“Not allowed,” Dad waved a hand.

“You’re no fun, Dad.” Teddy went to go get the pizza crusts from the fridge, before she got that Dad already was handing them over.

“We can talk about  _ other _ things.” Skye leaned back against the counter.

“Like…?” Pada prompted, getting a wine glass. “Wine, caro?”

“Getting the wine now.” Dad agreed.

“Oh, what about Halloween?” Skye asked.

“Auntie Lily wants a party, I think.” Pada held two glasses out for Dad so he could pour. “Do you two have any plans?”

Teddy nodded, setting everything down on the counter. “We’re going to the pub where the open mic nights normally are, you know?”

“There’s going to be a show and costume contest,” Skye informed them.

“Ooh! Costume ideas?”

“Sid and Nancy!” Teddy grinned because she knew her parents would love that.

“Excellent idea.”

“Yes! Oh that’s great, you’ll look the part.” Pada smiled at Teddy as they sipped their wine.

“I was wondering if I could borrow some things…” She looked to Pada as innocently as she could.

“Mm, which things? And I’d rather asking than just  _ taking. _ ”

“I’m asking now!” She blew a raspberry as Dad laughed. “Your fishnet shirt and that leather jacket with the pins and patches.”

“Yes, and I’m glad you’re asking, cheeky!” Pada chuckled. “Ah, the shirt yes, the jacket no.”

Teddy groaned. “But the jacket is perfect, why can’t I?”

“Because it’s not something I want to lend to you, piccolina.” Pada glanced to Dad. “My other leather jacket, with the studs?”

“Nah, I have one just like that.” She sighed, glancing in Dad’s direction. He was busy chopping up some tomatoes.

“Alright. Anything else, you’re welcome to, okay?”

“Sure, you must really love that jacket.”

Skye snickered as she bit into her chocolate bar. “It must be valuable.”

Pada gave them both a strange smile. “Something like that.”

“Oh no!” Teddy put a hand over her eyes. “Nope.” It was something gross. Teddy knew it was.

“What is it?” Skye nudged her.

Pada stayed quiet, but for a little chuckle.

“Christ,” Dad muttered and that confirmed it.

“I feel out of the loop.”

“Thank you lucky stars you are.” Teddy dropped her hand to glare at Pada.

“She’s right in this instance, Skye,” Pada said, smiling at Teddy.

“Okay.” She squinted mid-bite.

As they went to get the pizza together they all chatted easily. Teddy was happy to move on from the leather jacket thing, happy Pada didn’t get too embarrassing. When it was in the oven, they went to go look for something to watch when they were ready to eat and enjoy a movie. Of course Pada and Teddy got into a conversation about school.

“We’re learning how to use this editing software in that class.”

“Yeah? Auntie Marly and I tried to figure out iMovie once for a trailer for the studio and it was disastrous.”

“I sure it was! Auntie Marly with technology is a disaster.” Teddy perked up for a moment. “Could I do a new trailer for the studio?”

“Oh shit, of course you could! Yes! Your first commission piccolina!”

“That’s all well and good but stop talking about school! Yes, it’s great that you’re having fun and learning so much. Not to mention it’s beyond adorable you’re having lunch with your ex twice a week, babe, but Friday pizzas are no work or school talk.” Skye laughed and Teddy sat straight. She hadn’t talked to her parents about Jordan because she was sure that it wouldn’t go over well.

Pada cleared their throat, giving Teddy a look she usually saw from Dad. “Oh,  _ that’s _ who your lunch buddy is?”

“Jordan?” Dad raised an eyebrow as her stomach dropped.

“Oh no.” Skye bit her lip.

“Yeah, Jordan. He’s back in town and going to Hogwarts.”

“Oh right.” It occurred to Teddy her parents probably already knew that from Auntie Mary or Ro. “And you’re okay with that?”

“I mean, yeah, we’ve been getting lunch for like a month now weekly…” she trailed off.

Pada bit their lip, looking to Dad before back to her. “You’re happy? He’s a good friend?”

“Yeah, he’s a great friend.”

Skye slumped down in her seat.

“I just… don’t want you to get hurt again, piccolina.” Pada put their arm around her shoulders.

“I’m not going to. I’m just having lunch with him and I’m dating Skye.” She pointed at her and she gave Teddy an apologetic smile.

Dad cleared his throat. “And that’s good, lunch.”

“Right.” Pada nodded.

“I’m so sorry.” Skye frowned.

Teddy shook her head. “It’s fine. It’s really fine. I just know that you two would be worried.”

Pada gave a little chuckle. “Worried isn’t the word I’d use.”

“What’s the word then?” Teddy couldn’t help herself asking.

“Mmm… protective? Willing to put the fear of god into him if he hurts you again even a little bit?”

“Jordan already has the fear of god in him about you, Pada, don’t worry.” Teddy shook her head.

“Oh good.” Pada gave them a smug smile.

Teddy rolled her eyes. “He’s very scared and kept asking if you knew and that I should tell you that we are getting lunch.”

“I would like it to be known I had no clue that this was something that we weren’t talking about.” Skye reached for her cider.

“You’re fine.” She wasn’t mad at her about it at all.

“So lunch is good? Nice to catch up?” Pada ruffled her hair.

“For the millionth time, lunch is good and it’s nice.” She laughed as the kitchen timer went off -- thank god.

“I’ve got it! I’m glad it’s good with Jordan.” Dad smiled as he walked by.

“I’ll help you Remus!” Skye got off the sofa and went after him.

“You are both awful at subtlety!” Pada called, shaking their head.

Teddy rolled her eyes. “They’re the worst.”

Pada sighed softly. “You know I’m happy so long as you are, piccolina. I just hate seeing you hurting.”

“I know, Pada. I was just worried telling you because I know how things went down and how we argued about stuff…” Teddy didn’t want to go there again with her parents.

“Yeah, I know. I get why you didn’t tell me, I’m not mad about it.”

“Thanks Pada, I’m glad. He’s really nervous about it all, he’s really sorry too.” Teddy rested her head on the back of the sofa.

“Teenage mistakes happen, I suppose. And he realises he did a shitty thing.”

Teddy nodded, pulling her legs up onto the sofa. “Yeah, he does. I’m not angry like I was with him either before. I don’t know, it’s nice.”

“Good,” Pada said softly, smiling. They looked at her for a moment, before taking a breath. “You think you might… still have feelings for him?”

Her gut reaction was to say  _ NO _ and turn far from that conversation, but… could she? Things with Skye were great, but they weren’t in love even after five months of being together. She wasn’t angry with Jordan any more, and things were so nice with him. Could she love him still? “I don’t…”

Pada put their hand on his knee, smiling still. “I think that… says a lot, huh?”

_ Shit _ , yeah it did. “I guess. Yeah… shit…”

“Is it necessarily a bad thing?” Pada put their arm around her shoulders.

“No, but… but Skye. I really…” She whispered, looking towards the kitchen where she could hear Skye laughing about something with Dad. “I don’t want to hurt her.”

“I know piccolina,” Pada whispered back. “And I think honesty is good in that respect… and besides, look at her she’s a complete badass, do you think she’d be hurt?”

Teddy shook her head because she was sure that Skye could take anything that came her way. “No, probably not.”

“And listen, I love Skye, but you are always my top priority.”

“I know. I don’t know what I want to do yet.” She kept her voice low.

“You don’t have to know, sweetie.” They kissed her temple.

Teddy needed to figure things out, she couldn’t have Skye dangling like that -- no matter how badass and strong she was, it wouldn’t be fair.


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a week and a day since Teddy had talked to Pada about he wasn’t sure about his feelings for Jordan. He thought about the ones that were lacking for Skye, the love that was never there. Teddy admired Skye, he cared a lot about her, but it wasn’t  _ love _ . Maybe one day it could be. It had been over five months though. Christ, he was going to have to break up with her. Pada was right, Skye would be fine. He just had never done any breaking up before. Plus, if he broke up with her, did Jordan even want to be with him? Even if he didn’t it wasn’t fair to stay with Skye. Everything just seemed to fucking complicated.

“Do I look stupid?” Teddy asked Pada who was helping him with his costume. Dad was on standby for punk hair tips, but he was currently on the phone with Grandma, who was in Portugal with Grandpa.

“No, you look fantastic! Just like Sid -- but better.” Pada held out Teddy’s leather jacket with the studs. They had put some pins and patches on it to make it more punk because he was not going to pester his parents following the incident the last week when Pada insinuated something gross about it. “Healthier.”

“Not on heroin?”

“Yeah, basically.” Pada nodded as Teddy slipped his arms into the jacket.

“You look very punk.” Dad’s voice came from behind him. “Need help with the hair?”

“Please help me tame the curls.” Teddy ran a hand through his hair before taking a seat at his vanity. “Did you ever dress like this?” It was so hard to picture Dad in his punk days, even after seeing the numerous pictures and hearing him go on his various political rants.

“I never wore a fishnet top.”

“Oh, but you should have, caro.” Pada perched on the edge of Teddy’s bed.

“Pada,” Teddy said with a groan as Dad reached for the hair gel.

“You still can.”

“Not my style.” Dad rolled his eyes as he started to have a go at Teddy’s hair. “Are you excited for the night? Staying at Skye’s?”

Teddy scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. “I don’t know. I’ll probably come home. I don’t want to… you know, make her think everything is okay. Even though that’s what I’m doing now.” He huffed.

“Honesty is the best policy, piccolino. It’s important to tell her.”

“Maybe make a plan to sit with her this week. No date or anything, just you two chatting.” Dad grabbed the extra strength hairspray that Teddy had picked up for the occasion. “Close your eyes.”

Teddy listened before Dad sprayed what seemed to be half the bottle on one spike of hair. Hurting Skye like he had been hurt scared him because he didn’t want that feeling for anyone. But the situations were so different. They had been seeing each for months compared to years. Their lives weren’t so intertwined and as far as Teddy knew neither of them imagined their lives together in the future.

“I know it’s hard, sweetie, but you have to take care of it,” Pada said as Dad picked the gel up once again.

“Try to have some fun tonight, Teds, okay?” Dad asked.

As much as Teddy wanted to take his parents' advice for the night to heart, things didn’t get much better when he and Skye got to the pub. She looked amazing in her cheetah print hot pants, fishnets, black tank top, and leather jacket. The issue was that since he picked her up, Skye had been extra chatty, than her usual, calm, cool self. It was strange, but Teddy thought maybe she had a weird day at work. Or maybe she could sense that something was off with Teddy. They hadn’t spent much time together over the last week, thankfully they were both busy.

But Skye wasn’t the problem, no, when they got into the bar Jordan was there with Dillon and the rest of the guy’s band.

“Sweet, Forbidden Forest is here.” Of course Skye liked the band that Jordan was friends with. “Oh that’s Jordan too.” They had met briefly at uni when Skye had picked him up when his car was in the shop one day. It was so fucking awkward, and tonight seemed like it was going to be a repeat if that.

“Yeah! Wow, their costumes are great.” Teddy gestured to Forbidden Forest dressed as the Ramones. Jordan was wearing a white shirt with red pants, and across his torso read  _ CHILL _ .

“I love it!” Skye pulled him over. “Jordan, hey, you’re a chill pill, aren’t you?”

Jordan stood up from the stool he had been perched on. “Ha, yes. These idiots didn’t realize that.”

“Oi!” Dillon complained, adjusting his terrible wig. “Sid and Nancy?”

Skye nodded, grinning as she put a hand on her hip to strike a pose. “I’m Skye by the way. I don’t think we’ve met. I’ve seen you all play before though.” She turned to the band.

“I’ll get us drinks.” Teddy put a hand on her side, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek.

“Cider please.” She smiled at Teddy before going back to talk to Dillon and the rest of the band.

It wasn’t until he was at the bar before he realized that Jordan also went on a mission for a drink. “Skye looks amazing.” Jordan stood next to Teddy as they squeezed up to the bar. “Remus do your hair?”

Teddy bit his lip, nodding as he rested his arms on the small space on the bar. “I can’t believe he wore his hair like this.”

“One day you’re going to have kids or nieces and nephews that say the same thing about all the colors you dyed your hair.” Jordan smiled at him in a way that made his insides flutter.

These feelings hadn’t been there the last month, nor since before Skye. Sure there was a little blip there at the start of seeing Skye where he was still upset about his feeling for Jordan, but he was sure that he moved on. But even how he felt then was different. He hadn’t felt this way about anyone since before Jordan and him ended things. Even when they made the mistake of falling into bed together, this wasn’t how he felt.

“Ha, they’re really going to be shocked by their jumper wearing grandpa being a punk stoner.” Teddy snickered, attempting to push his feelings away for the time being. Tonight, he was still with Skye and he didn’t want to hurt her.

“I still don’t believe it and I’ve seen the photos. Not to mention the video you made on their—”

“No, we don’t talk about that video.” Teddy put a hand over his face. When he wanted to talk about his parents' relationship and BDSM in order to wrap his mind around things, he never thought it’d go viral.

“I couldn’t watch it. It was like — like hearing about my parents sex life.” Teddy noticed the hesitation over the words and Jordan’s cheeks flushing, but it wasn’t the subject matter. He worried that Jordan wouldn’t want him back. If he were being honest then he would have admitted that was part of the reason he didn’t want to break up with Skye, as shitty as that was.

“It was therapeutic for me.” Teddy chuckled before ordering a nonalcoholic beer for himself and a cider for Skye. When Jordan ordered for himself and Dillon he couldn’t help raise an eyebrow. “You’re not dating him still?” He asked after the bartender went off to get their drinks.

Jordan scoffed. “No, he’s very straight and sort of dumb. He’s a good friend though.”

“Oh.” He tried not to let the relief show on his face. 

“I haven’t dated since…” Jordan gestured between them.

“Right, right. Honestly it’s the fucking worst. Not Skye, obviously, but before her.”

“I know I watched those videos too and they all sounded painful. The bloke who groped you! What a fucking dick.” Jordan got a hard look in his eyes.

“He was shitty, but I put him in his place. I saw him the other month when I went to the museum with Luna and he fucking ran away from me.”

“You’re powerful, Teddy.” Jordan smiled as the bartender set their drinks down. When Teddy went to pay, Jordan shoved his hand away. “No, I got this round.”

“Oh, thanks.” Shit, why was that cute? Buying drinks for Teddy and Skye? Christ, he had to break up with Skye.

The rest of the night, Teddy tried to keep his distance from Jordan so he could do his best not to make an arse out of himself. He didn’t want to do or say something stupid, and he certainly didn’t want to break up with Skye in the middle of the a pub on Halloween. Hopefully he would manage to actually stay friends with Skye because they weren’t  _ in love _ like he was in love with Jordan.

At least things seemed to go okay the rest of the night. The bands that played were great, and Skye kept gushing over Dillon and Forbidden Forest. If they weren’t about to break up, he probably should have been at least a little jealous, right? It didn’t matter either way. They did win the costume contest, and he knew Pada would end up boasting about it because they helped pick his costume out.

“We’re winners.” Skye held the plastic pumpkin filled with candy over her head that they had won for their costumes. 

Teddy laughed as he ran -- tried to run -- his fingers through his hair. The gel and hairspray made it impossible, but he was sure that the spikes that had been there when he had left the house were now a mess and all squished down or in general disarray. He couldn’t wait to get in the shower. “Of course we won, Nancy.”

“So,” she said just as they both opened the doors. Something softened about her normally tough exterior.

“What?” Something twisted in Teddy.

“In the car.”

Instead of making a crude quip, like he would most of the time, he did as asked. He turned the car on, but didn’t go, instead he just turned to face her. “What?”

“You still love him -- and that’s not me being some jealous bitch because I’ve thought it in the back of my head for awhile.” In the low light of the car’s dashboard, Teddy couldn’t tell if Skye was upset. She didn’t sound it.

Teddy took a deep breath. “Not… I didn’t the whole time. I swear, it wasn’t until last week when I talked to my Pada about having lunch with Jordan.” He bit his lip.

“It’s okay, Teddy. I don’t mind, I swear. I think we had a great thing together, but maybe it’s just meant to be a friendship. I can’t stand you looking at Jordan like that and you not being with him. Not that I’m selfish, but it’s painful because there’s something there we don’t have and you should have with someone else and I should have with a different person.” Skye waved a hand before brushing her hair back.

Teddy scrubbed a hand over his face, no doubt ruining the eyeliner. “I’m sorry, Skye. I shouldn’t have dated anyone when --”

“Don’t say sorry, Teddy. Nothing bad happened here.” She shrugged.

“You don’t hate me?” He laughed, shaking his head.

“No way. Again, you haven’t done anything shitty unless you were hooking up with him over lunch instead of actually getting food.”

Teddy grimaced. “No way. I wouldn’t.”

“I know, you’re pretty shit at lying, Teddy.” Skye shook her head. “It was nice to have a few good months with you. That’s all it’s going to be and that’s okay with me.”

“You’re too cool.”

“God, don’t  _ I’m not like other girls  _ me. I’m not a damn manic pixie dream girl.”

“No you’re a badass who takes no shit.”

“Damn right I am.” Skye scoffed, reaching over to pat Teddy on the knee. “Don’t worry I won’t talk shit about you to Libby. She already thinks you’re in love with Jordan anyhow.”

Teddy groaned, resting his head against his seat. “I thought I moved on.”

“Hey, maybe you just grew. You changed, and just didn’t put Jordan on the top of the list for a while.”

“You’re being too nice about this all.”

Skye dug around in the pumpkin full of sweets. “I’m not going to grovel for someone’s love. I’m also not going to villainize you for having feelings you had been up front about me with from basically the start. I can pretend to be mad at you if you want.”

“No, god please.” He snorted a laugh, still amazed at how well Skye was taking it.

“Now, in this split we’re going to have to decide who gets what candy.”

“Oh, this is where we fight.”

“ _ Exactly _ .”


	9. Chapter 9

When Teddy got home, he found it empty. Pada and Dad were most likely at Auntie Lily and Uncle James’ still. That was fine because he needed to decompress a little before having any big sort of chats, and take some time for himself to shower and change into his pjs. As much as he loved them and wanted to talk, right now he needed some time to himself.

As he laid in bed, Bucky with his head on his stomach, Teddy thought about picking up the phone and calling Jordan. That seemed far too hasty and impulsive. He couldn’t dive right back into things with Jordan, they needed to talk. Jordan didn’t know about that ridiculous spiral last year. What if Jordan didn’t want him because of that? Or what if Jordan didn’t want him — full stop. Maybe they grew apart.

“Annwyl, you’re home?” Dad appeared in the door, wearing a striped shirt and a sailors hat. Pada was probably attempting to hop up the steps in their merperson fin.

“Yeah, we only stayed until—”

“Remus!” Pada shouted after there was a bang.

“One minute, Teddy.” Dad shook his head as he started to walk away. “I told you I would have helped you up.”

“I overestimated my abilities.”

Teddy tried not to laugh at the idea of Pada flopping on the stairs and Dad having to pick them up. He thought about getting up to watch the ridiculousness of it, but couldn’t stop laughing from just the thought. By the time he managed to sit up Dad was back in view of the door, setting Pada The Merperson down.

“Excuse you, what’s so funny?” Pada leaned against the door frame. Teddy could see in their eyes they were tipsy.

“Nothing Pada. You two look great.” Teddy rubbed his face as Pada shuffled into the room.

“What’s the matter, piccolino? Hmm?” Pada sat on the bed, with some effort as Dad chuckled. “Where’s the punk gone?”

“Oh, ah, Skye and I broke up but we won best costume.” Teddy bit his lip and Dad’s laughter died down. 

“Are you all right?” Pada put a hand in his shoulder.

“I’m fine, actually. She, er, Skye initiated it by saying she could tell I still loved Jordan. He was there tonight and… yeah.” Teddy sighed. “Skye and I are fine. I think we can actually be friends, but…”

“But what?” Dad’s brow furrowed.

Teddy shifted, shrugging a shoulder. “I’m nervous, I guess. What if Jordan doesn’t want to get back together or it’s just a disaster?”

“You have to do what you think is right. We don’t have the answers for you, you have to go with your gut. Your gut is normally right.” Pada squeezed his shoulder.

“It wasn’t right when I was fucking up for a few months.” He pulled his legs up to his chest.

Dad frowned, moving closer to the bed. “Take your time then, Teddy. At the same time, you shouldn’t be torturing yourself by staying away from Jordan just because you  _ think _ everything is going to go wrong.”

“Your Dad’s right, you should at least  _ talk _ to Jordan. I mean talk, not shag each other’s brains out.” Both Teddy and Dad made very similar noises of disgust. “Oh please, we all know you have sex.”

“Yeah, okay.” Teddy huffed. “I still don’t know how to talk to Jordan or when. I’m just nervous, I guess.”

“I’m sure it is nerve wracking.” Pada frowned. “You’ve done a lot of scary things this last year, haven’t you? Trying to be an adult, letting others help you when you were down, and starting uni to do something you love. You did all that, I know you can talk to Jordan and figure things out.”

“And no matter what you’re here.” Teddy bit his lip looking between both of his parents.

“We always are going to be here. Look at your grandparents, we’re going to be even worse than them.” Dad smiled, putting his hands in his pockets.

Teddy scoffed. “As if I should take a sailor and a merperson seriously!”

“Oi! We’re both rich with sea knowledge.”

“Very deep, vast knowledge.”

“You’re both ridiculous.” He shook his head.

“You love it.” Pada kissed him on the cheek before holding their arms out to Dad. “Help, caro.”

“I do love it.” He rolled his eyes, shifting back against his headboard as Dad bent down. Instead of helping Pada stand, he hitched them over his shoulder. That caused the loudest shriek from Pada, who kicked their fin like a fish out of water.

“I caught a big one.”

“That was terrible!” Teddy complained as Dad carried them out of the room, only pausing to shut the door.

God, he wanted a love like theirs still. Maybe it could be with Jordan. He was just more than terrified that he was going to get his heart completely and utterly shattered to pieces.

The next week dragged on. Teddy did her best to avoid Jordan on campus because she wasn’t sure what to say. She feigned an immense amount of work to skip out on lunch, and took different routes across campus like she was avoiding a stalker. No, she was just a big baby who couldn’t face her feelings. What if she was turned down by Jordan? Another heartbreak would be terrible.

On Thursday afternoon, Teddy came home and sprawled out on the sofa. She was exhausted from turning over her thoughts about Jordan on top of her school work and regular work. Not to mention party planning with Dad. Everything was exhausting.

This year Teddy was happy to be home for Pada’s actual birthday and they were having a far more laid back affair. They were having their bash at a cool club that was beach bar themed. It even had sand in the floors and fake palm trees and tropical decor. As usual it was a surprise, one Pada would love. Teddy was a little nervous because Jordan was going to be there since everything was more settled between them and Pada didn’t want to rip out his throat.

“Hey annwyl, you all right?” Dad’s voice startled her.

She peered up at him. “Just tired.”

“Well, you’ve got the next few days off, right?” Dad sat down by her head with a mug of tea in hand.

“Mmm, yeah, but we’ve got Pada’s party.”

“I think we’re good. Auntie Al dealt with the cake, Auntie Dorky’s got the decorations, and Uncle Peter’s managed to order all those leis.” He took a sip of his tea.

“Yeah, true.”

“You’re nervous.”

Teddy huffed, scrubbing at her face. “A little.”

“Don’t rush yourself but I can tell you’re driving yourself mad with it,” Dad commented as Teddy sat up, turning so she could look at him.

“I know. I avoided him all week.” Teddy grimaced as she flopped against the back of the sofa. “I hated him last year and I was so angry with him until… I don’t even know. I just wasn’t? Now I can’t stop thinking about how I still love him.”

“Whatever you feel is completely valid, annwyl. I’m so proud of how much you’ve grown this last year. You’ve really found yourself and who you are.”

“Yeah…” Teddy sighed. “What if I get back with Jordan and…”

“And…” Dad raised an eyebrow. 

“And I don’t know who I am again? Or what if he breaks my heart again?”

Dad frowned. “I wish I had those answers for you Teddy, but all I can tell you is you have to do what you think is right.”

Teddy melted against the cushions. “Why isn’t everything clear?”

“I don’t know, sweetie, I wish I did.” He stood up. “I’ve got something for you though.”

She furrowed her brow. “What?”

“Let me get it, one sec.” He held up a hand before going off towards the sunroom in the back of the house.

Teddy watched after Dad from the sofa, not budging because she was just so tired. Only a minute or two later he came back with a box in his hand. Sitting forward, Teddy held her hands out. “Get me a gift?”

“No, but I did save you some things.”

Teddy frowned as she peeked into the box. It took her a moment to realize what the scraps of paper, pictures, and endless ticket stubs were. The box contained everything on the cork board she had thrown in the garbage over a year ago when her and Jordan had broken up. Little sentimental pieces of their time together she had thrown away weren’t gone forever. “Oh god, why am I going to cry?” She sniffled.

Dad shrugged, reaching over to squeeze their shoulder. “Because emotions, I don’t know.”

“You’re so shit at this.” Teddy laughed as tears finally began to trail down her cheeks as she looked at a Weird Sisters ticket stub. It was her and Jordan’s first night away alone together that show. They had a proper adult night that night, and Teddy thought that the rest of her life was going to be as happy as it was then.

“I’m sorry! I’m better than I was. That should say something.” 

She rubbed her face, moving to go cuddle up with her Dad for a moment. “Lucky Pada put up with you.”

“Oh, you’ve got no idea. I had to put up with stuff from them though, and that’s okay because we learned together.”

“Dropping some advice in there.” Teddy rested her forehead on his shoulder as he rubbed her back.

“I’m your Dad, I have to.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She sniffed again. “I’ll talk to Jordan.”


	10. Chapter 10

Picking out Pada’s outfit options for the party was easy. Choosing her own outfit made Teddy want to pull her pretty curls out of her head. She could hear Pada across the hall shouting about what the party was going to be and asking where they were going. Teddy was being quiet because it was the best option to not give anything away. She also did not want to bring up Jordan with Pada. Both them and Dad had been dropping hints about discussing her feelings with him. They weren’t wrong, not that they had been wrong much about Teddy’s choices the last year. She was just so nervous.

If Teddy could have, she would have marched out to Jordan’s little studio apartment -- wherever that was -- after Dad gave her all their momentos the other day. For some reason, she just kept imagining everything going bad and Jordan telling her that he was over Teddy. Or things just not working out. But she missed him so much. Any time she saw him, Teddy just wanted to wrap her arms around him and just let him love her. It was so stressful to think about doing that because of everything that could go wrong.

“PICCOLINA! ARE YOU READY?” Pada shouted as they knocked on their door.

“Yep, all set.” Teddy adjusted her skirt, which was knee length black with a green palm and some white flower print over it number. She paired it with a black tank top that gave her the same 50’s vibe as the skirt with a sweetheart neckline. She topped the look off with a lei around her neck and a flower tucked behind her ear.

The door flung open and Pada was grinning at her, wearing shorts and a flowery shirt with a flower crown. They looked properly tropical, the complete opposite of the cool November weather. “You look fantastic. Jordan is going to do one of those cartoon-ish eyes popping out of his head looks.”

“How do you know he’s going to be wherever it is we are going?” Teddy reached for her keys and wallet. He was going to be there, Dad had insisted on inviting him because they were trying to make sure he and Bev still felt welcome to functions that were going on. Jordan had lived with the Pettigrews for two years, so it made more than enough sense for them to be there.

“It’s a surprise party, Teddy, I know you and your father well. Come on!” They grabbed Teddy’s arm and dragged them out the door.

The entire ride to the tropical themed bar and restaurant, featured Pada chattering away. Teddy was happy to let them go on because they weren’t asking any questions… until they were nearly at Seacrets. “Since Jordan will most likely be here, are you going to talk to him?”

Teddy groaned as she took a turn. “I don’t know, Pada.”

“For me? For my birthday?” Without looking she knew that they were smiling sweetly.

“I can’t believe that you’re saying this. You wanted to rip his heart out.”

“Rightly so, Jordan hurt my baby… but I know that you love him and I trust that he wouldn’t hurt you again like that.” Pada turned the music down a little. “The only reason I want you to do this is because I want you to have everything that matters to you.”

“You always said that another person shouldn’t be what makes you.”

“No, you don’t need another person to make you happy, but when you love someone and that person feels like home then you should be with them if you want that.”

Teddy wanted that. She wanted to feel completely at home because Jordan had always made her feel so good, so comfortable. Jordan was the person who Teddy imagined her whole life with, all of the ups and downs. If she closed her eyes she could picture them moving in together and having slow mornings and inviting all their friends and family over. She could see them getting married and buying a house — maybe even having a kid one day. Even fights and any sad moments would be together. Everything just felt right with Jordan.

Once they got to the bar, Pada all but bounced in just ahead of Teddy. The place was packed with their friends and family. There was a table of gifts and one of deserts, and it was filled to the brim with cliche tropical decor. Everyone looked like they were going to Hawaii, and Auntie Marly and Gramps were already drinking frighteningly colorful drinks.

“This is excellent.” Ro appeared next to her. She leaned into Teddy. “I can’t believe they actually have sand in here.” She looked down at their feet.

“Dad and I thought it’d be fun.”

“It’s great. How are you? You’re feeling a little… off?”

Teddy snickered, Ro always called out vibes. “I’m nervous.”

Ro put an arm around her shoulders. “I’m assuming it’s over Jordan?”

She nodded, she hadn’t even looked his ways since they walked in. She certainly didn’t see Jordan in a blue shirt that brought out his eyes. Or the way that he was standing slightly stiff and uncomfortable. Or how his hair looked really good today.

“At least go be friendly.” She gestured over to where Jordan was talking with Hettie and Neville.

“I need a minute.”

A minute turned out to be over an hour — maybe two. It wasn’t until Pada had blown out the candles that Teddy worked up the courage to go sit and talk with Jordan. He had been sitting with Ro and Harry, but they disappeared as if Ro knew that Teddy was even having a passing thought of talking with Jordan.

“Hey,” Teddy said, sliding into the horseshoe-shaped booth. From the seat she could see Pada and Dad dancing as if they were still in their twenties.

“Ah, hi, Teddy. Have I… have I done something wrong?” He spoke slowly, as if he was afraid.

“No, no way you haven’t done anything wrong,” Teddy said quickly, running the words in the sentence together. “I’m sorry I avoided you all week.”

“What happened? I thought the friends thing was going pretty well.” A crease formed in Jordan’s brow as he leaned forward.

“It was! I’m — I don’t want to be friends though. I want… I want you back,” she blurted and it felt as if a weight was lifted off of her chest just by saying those words.

Jordan’s eyes widened. “What about Skye?”

“We broke up after the Halloween party.” Teddy bit her lip. “She said she could tell I still loved you.”

“Yeah? Really? I still love you too. I’m sorry I thought breaking up was what needed to happen.” Jordan rubbed a hand over his eyes.

“It was the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.” Teddy nudged him. “Don’t do it again or Pada and Dad might actually kill you and I won’t stop them.”

Jordan nodded. “I’m not that stupid.”

“Good.” Teddy laughed. “We still need to talk a lot. About a lot of things.” She thought of all that she did for those few stupid months. Of course Jordan wouldn’t judge her but she wanted to tell him.

“Yeah, of course. Whatever we need to do, I want to do it.” Jordan put a hand on her knee. “No ones going to rip my heart out now?”

“No, they’re better about it, though I’d tread lightly.” She shifted closer to him. Just being near him made her breathe just a little easier.

“Good because I missed your parents too.”

“Yeah, I think they miss you now too. Not as much as me.” Teddy grinned at him.

“Mmm, maybe Bucky?”

“Oh, Bucky misses you most, I’m sure.”

“Well, he’s my best bud, so it makes sense.” Jordan shrugged a shoulder. “Do you want to come back to mine after? I’m sure you want to get out of the house and leave your parents—”

Teddy groaned, but couldn’t help a laugh. “Yeah, look at them,” she said gesturing to the dance floor. “Plus, I want to talk.”

She did want to talk, actually talk.

So, after the party, when everyone was leaving and Pada was being a very loud excited but drunken mess, Teddy slipped off with Jordan. This year Teddy wasn’t hiding that they were leaving together like Pada’s birthday last year. Everyone seemed to know the moment Teddy sat down at the booth that she and Jordan were working things out together. The whole group was buzzing and asking Teddy if they were back together when she had gotten up to tell her parents that she was staying at Jordan’s for the night.

Getting to Jordan’s flat, Teddy couldn’t help but grinning. The living area was right in front of them when they walked in. Just beyond that was an area partitioned off with an old dressing screen and some shelves. Teddy assumed the bed was behind it because further on the kitchen tucked into one corner with a small table nearby. It was small, cozy, and just perfect.

“I love it.” Teddy looked at a poster of the Weird Sisters as she kicked off her shoes.

“Thanks. I found a DIY to make shelves out of skate decks, so I’m going to do that next weekend.” Jordan hung his jacket up. “Want a drink? Beer? Wine?”

She scraped her teeth over her bottom lip as she went to sit on the sofa. “I don’t really drink much anymore.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s not like I’m sober or anything, but I just don’t.” She shrugged as Jordan flopped onto the cushion next to her. “You know when we had that big talk before we shagged that last time?”

Jordan nodded. “Yeah.”

“I said I went through things or whatever and I did. I was completely directionless and started to hang out with Eleanor.”

“She was such a bitch.”

Teddy groaned, putting her face in her hands. “I realize that now! She was shit.” Teddy went in to explain the whole three months that Jordan had missed. How she found comfort in people and things that ended up hurting her and not being right for her. How she and her parents had a falling out and they argued then didn’t speak for weeks. How she slept around and got an STI. How she abused drugs. She poured it all out because she needed him to know. It wasn’t about guilting him because it wasn’t Jordan that put her in those positions. Teddy just needed to be open and honest.

“I’m glad you’re better. You seem happier than you were even before we broke up.” Jordan was now holding on to her hand, playing with her ring.

“I know what I want now. Not that I couldn’t have done that with you, you big idiot.” She snickered before kissing him in the cheek. “I would have rather had figured my shit out with you, but I didn’t and that’s okay. Not that I don’t want you or don’t love you still but I know I can do it without you now. It’s a lot easier though when you’re here.”

“Yeah I know that now too.” Jordan squeezed her fingers. “I don’t want to be anywhere but with you, Teddy.”

“Well, you’re home, so I’m not going anywhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading Teddy's story. I wasn't sure anyone would read it because this is a wolfstar story, you know? Stay tuned for Sirius' birthday smut in the Older Teddy One Shots and we will be posting a one shot a week starting this week. We also have some angst from wolfstar POV of Teddy's rough patch


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